Zoom ban for MPs over security concerns

Many MPs are without an approved video conferencing solution, with another platform being rolled out progressively.

Australian MPs aren’t permitted to use Zoom software over security concerns.

Australian MPs and Senators are banned from using the Zoom video conferencing software – the dominant platform during the coronavirus lockdown – due to security concerns.

The Department of Parliamentary Services has told The Australian that “Zoom software is not currently authorised for installation on the parliamentary computing network”.

Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou is part of a committee that is video conferencing for the first time in federal parliamentary history. Picture: Supplied

The position is in line with a ban imposed by the Defence on uniformed members and bureaucrats.

But it leaves many MPs and Senators without an approved video conferencing solution as they work from home due to COVID-19 social distancing.

The department says it is progressively rolling out Microsoft’s Office365, “and where users have migrated to this platform, DPS supports Microsoft Teams as a collaborative platform that has conference facilities”.

Zoom user numbers soared to 200 million a day in March, from 10 million a day in December, as the coronavirus crisis forced a ­global shift to working online, but the platform has been beset with security problems.

In the latest issue, the company admitted it had “mistakenly” routed some user data through China.

Zoom has also been criticised for wrongly claiming the app had end-to-end encryption, allowing meeting hosts to track attendees and leaving Mac users vulnerable to having webcams and microphones hijacked.

Zoom founder Eric Yuan recently said the company had “fallen short of the community’s, and our, privacy and security expectations”.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre issued advice to employers urging care when selecting meeting platforms, telling users to note where the service was based and whether it used strong encryption.

It stopped short of singling out particular platforms.