Foreign Spies Also Target Zoom, Not Just Internet Trolls
If you’ve never been “Zoombombed,” let me tell you one thing from experience: it’s horrific and violating. And it’s an experience shared by potentially thousands of people around the world. One moment you think you’re having a private virtual conversation, the next you’re interrupted by an outsider who swings racial slurs at you, or displays pornographic images on your screen.
As it turns out, the Zoom platform—which has grown increasingly popular around the world as the coronavirus pandemic keeps more and more people in social isolation—is not only filled with vulnerabilities that leave users susceptible to Zoombombing; it is also being used by foreign spies to obtain sensitive information.
John Walcott, TIME foreign policy and national security reporter, spoke to three U.S. intelligence officials to learn about how foreign spies have targeted Zoom. “While the Chinese, Russians, and others are targeting virtually every tool Americans and others are using now that they’re forced to work from home, Zoom is an attractive target, especially for China,” Walcott reports.
Though Zoom had originally promised its users that the platform provided end-to-end encryption for all conversations, that later turned out not to be entirely true. An April 3 report by The Citizen Lab uncovered further vulnerabilities, including encryption keys that are routed through servers in China. Zoom has promised to increase its security measures, and went so far as to declare a 90-day focus on privacy rather than flashy new features. There are also ways users can prevent Zoombombing by following the company’s recommended practices. But former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden tells Walcott that “Zoom’s links to China, regardless of what its CEO promises, create a persistent threat.”
Roughly 1.6 million people in over 180 countries and territories around the world had been infected with COVID-19 as of Thursday evening, and more than 95,000 lives have been lost due to the illness.
Here is every country with over 10,000 confirmed cases, as of Thursday night, 8 PM eastern time:
Christians around the world will be observing Easter weekend traditions virtually this year. Normally, thousands of pilgrims and tourists observe Good Friday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. This year, the site is virtually empty. In majority-Catholic Italy, security will be ramped up to prevent people from violating lockdown measures to observe Easter, the Associated Press reports.
At a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, police fired tear gas at people stampeding for food aid on Friday, as coronavirus restrictions have kept people from working. As of Friday afternoon, Kenya has reported 189 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths, according to a virus tracker by Johns Hopkins University. Kenya is one of nearly 20 countries in the African continent to implement strict lockdowns such as curfews, in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Some crackdowns, including in Nairobi, have resulted in violence.
On Thursday, the head of the International Monetary Fund predicted that the pandemic will trigger the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression, and that the world’s poorest countries would suffer the most.
The Situation in the United States
More than 461,000 people in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19, and more than 16,000 have died from it as of April 9.
Groups that typically aid foreign countries in desperate need of humanitarian aid are now turning their attention to the U.S., according to the AP, as the death toll from COVID-19 continues to rise in places like New York City.
In a rare partnership, Apple Inc. and Google announced they are adding technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they’ve come in contact with someone with COVID-19, Bloomberg News reports. Users will have to opt into the system, but the partnership has the potential to reach one third of the world population
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 9, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Will Restrictions Ease on Young People First?
As countries around the world weigh economic concerns against public health, researchers in the U.K. have presented one potential option: allow young people between 20-30 years old to leave their homes and get back to work. Read more here.
Inside the Army Corps of Engineers’ Race to Build Hospitals
TIME national security correspondent W.J. Hennigan offers readers a glimpse of what it’s like for the Army Corps of Engineers to construct emergency coronavirus hospitals. Read more here.
No, 5G Wireless Technology Is Not At All Linked to Coronavirus
Among the rampant misinformation about the coronavirus being spread throughout the internet is one conspiracy theory about 5G technology. TIME reporter Billy Perrigo debunks that myth, while providing broader context on the dangers of misinformation. Read more here.
Tzi Ma on Tigertail, Mulan and Anti-Asian Bigotry
The push for representation on the big screen has kept actor Tzi Ma busy. Then came COVID-19. “A man stopped right in front of me with his car and said straight in my eyes, ‘You should be quarantined,’” Ma says. Read more here.
What the World Can Learn From Sanitation Workers in Hong Kong
Surgical masks, disinfectant wipes and other supplies have piled up in Hong Kong dumpsters. A public sanitation worker in Hong Kong shares her experience with TIME and offers some perspective on the risks posed by those who keep public spaces clean. Read more here.
How to Help the World’s Neediest Countries
Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CARE USA, a humanitarian aid agency, offers some tips on how to help the world’s neediest and most vulnerable countries during a pandemic. Read more here.
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