The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the final approval of its settlement with Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) over allegations that the company misled consumers regarding its data security practices.
Zoom is a video conferencing platform. It is one of the tech companies that benefitted from the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent the spread of the disease, many businesses were forced to allow their employees to work from home. Educational institutions to implement online learning.
FTC’s allegations against Zoom
In November, the FTC sued Zoom for allegedly engaging in deceptive and unfair practices related to its data security and privacy for consumers. The company claimed that its video conferencing platform is integrated with “end-to-end AES 256 bit encryption.”
The Commission alleged that Zoom lied to users about the level of its encryption. In fact, it is using a lower level of encryption” to secure meetings on its platform. It was not securing users’ data using AES-256 bit encryption. Instead, it was using AES 128-bit encryption in Electronic Code Book (ECB).
