MANILA - Users of chat app Viber in the Philippines can now use its new Group Video Calls and have a video conference with up to 20 people with unlimited duration, the company said Thursday.
Viber said that the added support for video meets the growing demand for large video calls to replicate face-to-face conversations and conferences.
“We’re excited to enable users to participate in video calls with up to 20 people, and we’re going to expand this further very soon,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.
Social distancing has compelled people to rethink the way they gather in groups, making alternative online meetups not only convenient but necessary, Viber said in a statement.
The chat app has been updated with a new “video” button at the top of the screen where participants can be added to an ongoing video call.
Viber’s Group Video Calls also support features like screen sharing and video broadcasting for both mobile and desktop devices.
"Group Video Calls give the speaker the floor, displaying their video for all participants," Viber said.
Users can also mute themselves or disable their video during the call, as well as see if other participants are on mute or if their video is turned off. The new feature also lets users privately pin anyone’s video to their personal screen during the call.
Video conferencing apps have seen a tremendous boom in the number of users worldwide after the coronavirus pandemic made social distancing the norm.
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A 32-year-old Long Island man was arrested and charged with murder Thursday after the man fatally stabbed his father while he was on a Zoom video chat with about 20 people, authorities said.
The father, Dwight Powers, 72, had been participating in the Zoom call at his home in Amityville, a village in the town of Babylon about 40 miles east of Manhattan, just after noon Thursday when he was attacked by his son, Thomas Scully-Powers, the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement.
People on the call reported seeing Powers in the meeting with them and then suddenly realizing that he was no longer on screen, a spokesman for the Suffolk County police said. Some participants in the meeting may have witnessed part of the attack, the spokesman said, adding that the police had been given a description of the son by people who were on the Zoom call.
The spokesman declined to comment on the type of meeting that was being held.
Newsday reported that there had been about 20 other people on the video call, which the police confirmed later Thursday night.
“They just noticed him fall off the screen and then they heard heavy breathing,” Detective Lt. Kevin Beyrer of the Suffolk County police homicide squad told Newsday. “It was horrible that they had to witness this.”
Several participants in the conference called 911, and the police found and arrested Scully-Powers in less than an hour, authorities said. The police spokesman said it had taken officers longer to locate Scully-Powers because people in the meeting did not know where Powers lived.
Beyrer told Newsday that the motive in the stabbing was still being investigated but that there was no indication that it was related to the coronavirus pandemic. It was not clear how many times Powers had been stabbed by his son, he added.
Scully-Powers was injured when he jumped out a second-story window of the home where he and his father both lived and was transported to a hospital to recover, police said. Online records indicate that the home is an apartment in a senior living community.
As of late Thursday, the area surrounding the complex was blocked off to traffic by police vehicles. Caution tape separated the street from nearby parking lots.
Police said Scully-Powers had been charged with second-degree murder and would be arraigned after being discharged from the hospital.
-Matt Stevens, The New York Times-
SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Google on Tuesday made its business videoconferencing service free to all users, ramping up competition for Zoom as people flock online to stay connected during the pandemic.
Google Meet had previously been reserved for subscribers to the premium G Suite software tools for businesses.
Meet will be available "to all users around the world, to enable people all walks of life to communicate collaborate and really stay in touch more effectively through the pandemic," G Suite vice president Javier Soltaro told AFP.
Google touted security and reliability features of Meet, and its foundation in the California-based internet giant's computing cloud.
Use of video calls and conferencing has rocketed as people work, learn, and socialize remotely while staying home to avoid the coronavirus.
Many people have turned to Zoom, which has scrambled to stem security problems such as data hacking and harassment by individuals who crash sessions in what is referred to as "Zoombombing."
Google said in a blog post that it has "invested years in making Meet a secure and reliable video conferencing solution that’s trusted by schools, governments and enterprises around the world."
People will need use or create free Google accounts to take part in meetings, which will have a 60-minute time cap that will be enforced starting the end of September, according to the company.
Google said free access will roll out gradually in coming weeks.
Some six million businesses and organizations from hospitals and banks to manufacturing facilities and warehouses already using G Suite already have access to Meet video conferencing, according to Google.
The move comes days after Facebook unveiled a new video chat service with virtual "rooms" where people can pop in to visit friends.
Through the Facebook Messenger application, users will be able to start video call sessions that as many as 50 friends can join and linger in as long as they wish, even if they don't have Facebook accounts.
Agence France-Presse
SAN FRANCISCO -- Videoconferencing platform Zoom is rolling out a number of measures meant to stem criticism over how it has handled security as users flock to the application during the coronavirus pandemic.
Zoom chief executive Eric Yuan laid out steps Wednesday that the company is taking against problems such as data hacking and harassment by individuals who crash sessions in what is referred to as "Zoombombing."
By week's end, paid account holders will be able to select which regions their data is routed through during their sessions in a move apparently aimed at concerns over information passing through China where it might be subject to snooping.
"As a reminder, meeting servers in China have always been geofenced with the goal of ensuring that meeting data of users outside of China stays outside of China," Zoom said in an online post.
The Silicon Valley startup also said that it was working with cyber-security firm Luta Security to overhaul processes and its "bug bounty" program that pays rewards to researchers who find security flaws in its operations.
Zoom also addressed a recent report that users' log-in information was being sold by criminals on the "dark web."
The credentials were likely stolen elsewhere on the internet, or by malicious code slipped into people's computers, according to Zoom advisor Alex Stamos, former chief of security at Facebook.
It is not uncommon for hackers to take passwords and account names pilfered in data breaches and then check whether people use them for other online services.
Zoom said it was building systems to "detect whether people are trying out username and password pairings and block them from trying again."
Improvements to Zoom security also include a toolbar to easily access features such as locking chats from strangers and making meeting password requirements a default setting.
"To successfully scale a video-heavy platform to such a size with no appreciable downtime and in the space of weeks is literally unprecedented in the history of the internet," Stamos said in a post.
"The related security challenges are fascinating."
India this week banned the use of Zoom for government remote meetings, saying it "is not a safe platform."
The New York school system has also banned the videoconferencing platform based on security concerns.
Prosecutors from several US states are meanwhile investigating the company's privacy and security practices, and the FBI has warned of Zoom sessions being hijacked.
According to Yuan, the number of people taking part in Zoom meetings daily eclipsed 200 million in March, up from just 10 million at the end of last year.
Agence France-Presse
SAN DIEGO, California - A group of Filipino-American students became the target of Zoombombers while they were holding a virtual meeting using Zoom technology amid the pandemic.
The San Diego State University’s Andres Bonifacio Samahan Club was holding a candidate meeting to elect its officers when a group of Zoombombers crashed the meeting and unleashed profanities and racial slurs.
“We sit silent not only to prevent any reaction but out some mix of shock, anger, confusion, and maybe most of all fear, fear that we were being violated and degraded in our homes and I hope no one else experiences that," said Julian Natividad.
In an Instagram message to fellow students, Natividad said many of the students were traumatized by the experience.
Last month, The Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council began tracking hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans in California, and in the first week since its launch, some 1,100 cases have been reported.
With this virtual attack, AB Samahan said it will take a stand.
"We will press on, AB Samahan will not be let down because we will not be put down. We will no longer be the silent majority," it said.
With the “Zoombombing” phenomenon on the rise, Zoom has encouraged users to take extra security steps when meeting. In the meantime, SDSU has also issued a statement standing in solidarity with the AB Samahan Club.
Read more on Balitang America:
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Zoom Video Communications Inc has tapped former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser as safety and privacy concerns about its fast-growing video-conferencing app drive a global backlash against the company.
That backlash includes a move on Wednesday by Alphabet Inc's Google to ban the desktop version of Zoom from corporate laptops.
In a stark illustration of Zoom's security issues, officials at Berkeley High School in California said they suspended use of the app after a "naked adult male using racial slurs" intruded on what the school said was a password-protected meeting on Zoom, according to a letter to parents seen by Reuters.
Taiwan and Germany have already put restrictions on Zoom's use, while Elon Musk's SpaceX has banned the app over security concerns. The company also faces a class-action lawsuit.
A Berkeley school district spokeswoman said it was possible a password had been shared, allowing the intrusion. But she added that the entire district was putting Zoom on pause for at least "a few days" to consider how to use and train for video-conferencing.
Coronavirus lockdowns have driven a surge in Zoom usage, even as concerns have grown over its lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions, routing of traffic through China and "zoombombing," when uninvited guests crash meetings.
Zoom shares were up 3.8% in late trade on Wednesday after shedding a third in value over the previous 10 days.
Zoom attracted users with its ease of use, as well as a free offering. Many schools around the world also started using it for online classes.
In a series of tweets in late March, Stamos called on Zoom to be more transparent and roll out a 30-day security plan. That led to the platform's founder and Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan asking him to weigh in as an outside consultant.
"Zoom has some important work to do in core application security, cryptographic design and infrastructure security, and I'm looking forward to working with Zoom's engineering teams on those projects," Stamos, now an adjunct professor at Stanford University, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. Stamos said on Twitter he would be a paid consultant to Zoom.
Brent Stephens, superintendent of Berkeley Unified School District, told Reuters the teacher involved in the Zoom incident Tuesday had been trained on security measures and appeared to have used them. But an imposter gained access to the waiting room using a pseudonym close enough to a real name to trick the teacher, who removed the intruder and reported the incident.
Stephens said the district was now evaluating whether a competing product from Google, whose software the district uses for other functions, could prevent similar incidents in the future.
"Rather than shift from one platform to another, we wanted to take a pause," Stephens said, "and not run the risk to student safety."
On Wednesday, Google said it was taking Zoom off workers' computers because of security concerns. A Google spokesman said employees could still use the mobile and browser-based versions of Zoom.
To address security concerns, Zoom has embarked on a 90-day plan and has formed a CISO Council, which includes chief information security officers of HSBC, NTT Data, Procore and Ellie Mae, to discuss about privacy, security and technology issues.
It has also set up a board to advise Yuan on privacy issues. The initial members include executives from VMware, Netflix, Uber and Electronic Arts.
Zoom, which competes with Microsoft's Teams and Cisco's Webex, has seen daily users jump to 200 million from 10 million and the stock surged to a record high in March. (Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting to Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Peter Henderson, Marguerita Choy abd Tom Brown)
-Reuters-
Taiwan's cabinet has told government agencies to stop using Zoom Video Communications Inc's conferencing app, the latest blow to the company as it battles criticism of its booming platform over privacy and security concerns.
Zoom's daily users ballooned to more than 200 million in March, as coronavirus-induced shutdowns forced employees to work from home and schools switched to the company's free app for conducting and coordinating online classes.
However, the company is facing a backlash from users worried about the lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions and "zoombombing," where uninvited guests crash into meetings.
If government agencies must hold video conferencing, they "should not use products with security concerns, like Zoom," Taiwan's cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday. It did not elaborate on what the security concerns were.
The island's education ministry later said it was banning the use of Zoom in schools.
Zoom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Taiwan would be the first government formally advising against use of Zoom, although some US schools districts are looking at putting limits on its use after an FBI warning last month.
Zoom Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan last week apologized to users, saying the company had fallen short of the community's privacy and security expectations, and was taking steps to fix the issues.
Zoom competes with Microsoft's Teams, Cisco's Webex and Google's Hangouts.
Taiwan's cabinet said domestically-made conferencing apps were preferred, but if needed, products from Google and Microsoft could also be considered.
Zoom's shares dipped 1 percent in premarket trading on the Nasdaq. They have lost nearly a third of their market value since touching record highs late March.
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What does British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have in common with virtual happy hour celebrants and thousands of students around the world?
All use the Zoom videoconferencing application to get together while staying apart during the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
But amid its newfound fame, the Silicon Valley-based company has come under stepped-up scrutiny over how it handles privacy and security -- including allowing uninvited guests to barge in on sessions.
Created by engineer Eric Yuan in 2011 and listed on the Nasdaq a year ago, Zoom has seen its market value skyrocket to some $35 billion.
Yuan has spoken of a passion for communication technologies that dates back to the 1990s when, as a university student in mainland China, he longed for a way to see his girlfriend without needing to travel hours by train.
Zoom hit the market as a tool for people working apart to collaborate on business, competing with offerings from the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Google and others.
- Poker and funerals -
As people around the world stay home due to coronavirus risk, Zoom has become a go-to service for remote education, exercise classes, poker games, church services and happy hour celebrations.
Couples have gotten married in "zoomed" ceremonies. Birthdays have been celebrated. Funerals have been virtually attended.
"It's really easy to use, and free; that's nice," said US school teacher Justin Minkel, who instructs students remotely using Zoom. "Just click a link."
Home chaos such as dogs barking or outbursts from siblings can be disruptive, but Minkel cures that by "muting" students' microphones until he needs to hear them.
According to Yuan, the number of people taking part in Zoom meetings daily eclipsed 200 million in March, up from just 10 million at the end of last year.
Video calls have surged on all messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Google Hangouts, but Zoom has become a star.
It lets as many as 100 people simultaneously attend a video-conference, allowing 40 minutes free and then charging for premium accounts that provide more time and features for $15 monthly.
Zoom lifted the 40-minute limit on free accounts for teachers in an array of countries.
Among Zoom settings is an option to chose a backdrop image, such as the Golden Gate Bridge or tropical beach, hiding what is really behind a user.
- Zoombombing -
Digital learning coach Stephanie DeMichele credits the surge in Zoom use to fear of being disconnected from schools, friends, families and others in our lives.
"And here comes Zoom saying 'It's free, available, and you won't feel isolated,'" said DeMichele. "So people grabbed onto it."
A "Zoombombing" phenomenon has sparked warnings about lax security, however.
Virtual intruders have interrupted religious ceremonies, remote classes, and other Zoom gatherings. In some cases, pornographic images have been displayed.
US media has reported that Zoom shares some data with third parties and questioned how well virtual meeting data is defended.
Prosecutors from several US states including Connecticut, New York, and Florida are investigating the company's privacy and security practices. The FBI has warned of Zoom sessions being hijacked.
Yuan vowed this week to step up data security, and apologized.
"We recognize that we have fallen short of the community's -- and our own -- privacy and security expectations," Yuan said in a message posted online.
"For that, I am deeply sorry."
Zoom was designed primarily for use by large businesses with their own tech teams to provide support and protection, according to Yuan.
"We did not design the product with the foresight that, in a matter of weeks, every person in the world would suddenly be working, studying, and socializing from home," Yuan said.
"These new, mostly consumer use cases have helped us uncover unforeseen issues with our platform."
While encouraged that Zoom is admitting it has security problems, it still has "a ton of work" to do to fix them and restore trust in the platform, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation associate director of research Gennie Gebhart.
While tending to its immediate concerns, Zoom would be wise to keep on eye on the future, said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.
"Replicating what Zoom has is not too difficult," Milanesi said.
"They need to think about what else they want to be."
Agence France-Presse
Zoom's daily users ballooned to more than 200 million in March from a previous maximum total of 10 million, the video conferencing app's boss Eric Yuan said on Wednesday, as it fought to dispel concerns over privacy and "Zoombombing".
The use of Zoom and other digital communications have soared with political parties, corporate offices, school districts, organizations and millions across the world working from home after lockdowns were enforced to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
"To put this growth in context, as of the end of December last year, the maximum number of daily meeting participants, both free and paid, conducted on Zoom was approximately 10 million," founder and Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan wrote in a letter to Zoom users on Wednesday. (https://bit.ly/2JvR3f1)
Yuan said that Zoom usage has taken off over the last few weeks, with more than 90,000 schools across 20 countries, using its video conferencing services to conduct classes remotely.
However, the huge influx of users on its platform has raised a lot of issues for the company - mainly privacy.
"We recognize that we have fallen short of the community's – and our own – privacy and security expectations," Yuan said. "For that, I am deeply sorry."
On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston office issued a warning about Zoom, telling users not to make meetings on the site public or share links widely after it received two reports of unidentified individuals invading school sessions, a phenomenon known as "zoombombing."
A couple of days later, billionaire Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX banned its employees from using the Zoom app in a memo seen by Reuters, saying the app had "significant privacy and security concerns."
Yuan acknowledged the problems in his letter saying, "over the next 90 days, we are committed to dedicating the resources needed to better identify, address, and fix issues proactively."
Microsoft Corp's business-focused Teams was used by 1.56 million mobile users on Monday, while Slack had less than 500,000 mobile users.
Research firm Apptopia estimated that Zoom's daily U.S. mobile user volumes rose to a record 4.84 million for the same day.
Shares of Zoom Video Communications Inc, which had been on a tear this year, have slipped over the last three days, as the company rushes to plug privacy issues plaguing its platform. The stock, which debuted last year at $36, closed down about 6% at $137 on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)
-Reuters-
NEW YORK, United States - Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX has banned its employees from using video conferencing app Zoom, citing "significant privacy and security concerns," according to a memo seen by Reuters, days after US law enforcement warned users about the security of the popular app.
Use of Zoom and other digital communications has soared as many Americans have been ordered to stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus.
SpaceX's ban on Zoom Video Communications Inc illustrates the mounting challenges facing aerospace manufacturers as they develop technology deemed vital to national security while also trying to keep employees safe from the fast-spreading respiratory illness.
In an email dated March 28, SpaceX told employees that all access to Zoom had been disabled with immediate effect.
"We understand that many of us were using this tool for conferences and meeting support," SpaceX said in the message. "Please use email, text or phone as alternate means of communication."
Two people familiar with the matter confirmed the contents of the mail.
A representative for SpaceX, which has more than 6,000 employees, did not respond to a request for comment. Chief Executive Musk also heads electric car maker Tesla Inc.
NASA, one of SpaceX's biggest customers, also prohibits its employees from using Zoom, said Stephanie Schierholz, a spokeswoman for the US space agency.
The FBI’s Boston office on Monday issued a warning about Zoom, telling users not to make meetings on the site public or share links widely after it received two reports of unidentified individuals invading school sessions, a phenomenon known as "zoombombing."
Investigative news site The Intercept on Tuesday reported that Zoom video is not end-to-end encrypted between meeting participants, and that the company could view sessions.
Zoom did not immediately respond to requests for comment on SpaceX’s decision, but it has been advising users to use all the privacy functions on its platform.
As a defense contractor, California-based SpaceX has been classified as an essential business, allowing it to stay open through shutdowns that are in effect in California and Texas, the development and testing hub for its Starship rocket that could be used to get to the moon and Mars and send national security satellites to space.
Reuters
NEW YORK - Video conferencing app Zoom, which has seen its popularity skyrocket in the coronavirus pandemic, is in hot water after users complained to the FBI of being startled by porn during meetings.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to the in-vogue California enterprise "with a number of questions to ensure the company is taking appropriate steps to ensure users' privacy and security," a spokesman said.
He refused to give further information on the contents but added Tuesday that James's office was "trying to work with the company" to resolve any problems.
The investigation comes after the FBI's Boston office warned on Monday that it had "received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language."
The FBI listed two examples where hackers had "Zoom-bombed" schools which have closed because of the deadly virus and which are now teaching classes online.
A Massachusetts high school reported that an unidentified individual dialed into the virtual classroom and yelled a profanity at the teacher before shouting the teacher's home address.
Another school in the same state reported the appearance of an unknown person with swastika tattoos.
Using the hashtag "zoombombed," social media users have testified that they suddenly saw pornographic or racist images on their screens while using the app.
The FBI recommended that Zoom users make all meetings private and avoid screen sharing to combat would-be hackers.
Silicon Valley-based Zoom said it "takes its users' privacy, security, and trust extremely seriously.
"During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working around-the-clock to ensure that hospitals, universities, schools, and other businesses across the world can stay connected and operational," a spokesperson told AFP.
"We appreciate the New York Attorney General's engagement on these issues and are happy to provide her with the requested information."
Zoom saw US downloads surge by 252 percent to 4.2 million during the week of March 16 -- when strict stay-at-home measures began being rolled out across America -- compared to the previous week, according to research firm Sensor Tower.
They increased by another 66 percent the following week to reach seven million downloads.
The app has seen similar growth in Europe, with downloads hitting 6.5 million at the end of March, according to Sensor Tower.
Agence France-Presse
Pinterest got off to a flying start on Wall Street Thursday in the market debut for the San Francisco-based visual discovery service, a positive sign for the wave of Silicon Valley firms planning stock listings.
Pinterest shares leapt 28 percent to close at $24.40 after its initial public offering (IPO), which raised some $1.4 billion.
The jump was a positive sign for other venture-backed Silicon Valley firms after a stumble for ride-hailing firm Lyft, which has lost some 20 percent since its market debut last month.
Separately, the videoconferencing startup Zoom surged 72 percent in its market debut after an IPO which raised more than $350 million.
Zoom's market value at the opening was estimated at some $16.6 billion and Pinterest's at $12.5 billion.
The market action comes amid an expect wave of "unicorns," or startups valued at over $1 billion, hitting the public markets.
The biggest of the group, Uber, is expected to make its debut next month with a valuation of close to $100 billion.
Some analysts have expressed skepticism about the ability of Uber and Lyft to reach profitability soon, raising concerns about their valuation.
Pinterest, launched in 2010, is a virtual bulletin board platform, with users decorating their boards with pictures showcasing interests including food, fashion, travel and lifestyle.
It claims some 250 million users, although it does not call itself a social network. It also enables users to link to online shopping and other services to find items they have "pinned."
Pinterest said it had a turnover of $755.9 million in 2018, and a net loss of almost $68 million.
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