Interestingly, Apple has pushed a MacOS update to remove the undocumented webserver installed by Zoom https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/silent-mac-update-nuk... Dev Anand On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 3:26 PM Dev Anand Teelucksingh <devtee@gmail.com> wrote:
Six Colors blog post "Zoom saved you a click—by giving you a security hole" : https://sixcolors.com/post/2019/07/zoom/ is an excellent short summary of what Zoom did and whether Zoom would learn from this. An excerpt :
"My guess is that Zoom’s original sin comes out of its corporate culture, which is focused on competing in a pretty cutthroat industry with demanding clients (IT managers) and not particularly technically literate customers (the individual business users). There’s probably a great fear of losing business to other businesses who can boast about running video meetings with ever less friction to the user.
And then Apple comes along and introduces a security feature to Safari that requires a confirmation click when any link in a web browser attempts to open an external app. Zoom, which likes to pass around web links as a way of driving users into conference calls, didn’t look at this security measure as something to help keep their customers secure—it viewed it as an addition of friction by the platform owner.
Zoom’s response was to build a secret local web server, which allowed Zoom to rewrite its hyperlinks to connect to a web server instead of an app—so the web server could bypass Safari’s security and launch the app without a second click.
I use Zoom because it’s a superior product to Skype for the large-panel podcasting that I do, but this issue gives me pause—and not because of the specific details of this event. No, it’s for what this says about Zoom’s priorities as a company. When the platform owner decides that web links shouldn’t open other apps without an approval click—a pretty sensible security measure—the corporate response shouldn’t be to bypass that click by invisibly installing a hidden server that’s a potential security hole" Also, the blog post Zoom posted in response to the security disclosure ( https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2019/07/08/response-to-video-on-concern/) was updated several times, in response to the outcry. The July 9 patch to the Zoom app on Mac devices is live at zoom.us/download <https://zoom.us/download?zcid=1231> which now removes the local web server entirely, once the Zoom client has been updated and there will be a further update to the Zoom client over the weekend regarding user's preference for video on by default.
Dev Anand
On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 2:32 PM Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> wrote:
Thanks Judith. You know, in these matters there is often some hype that makes it bigger than what it actually is, so I'd rather receive good, quality advice on this, rather than read the hyperbolic debates on the Internet. Kindest regards,
Olivier
On 10/07/2019 20:26, Judith Hellerstein wrote:
HI Olivier,
OK will write a note to the Tech team and ask them to do exactly that. People are just coming back from Vacations so it is a bit slow. I know I just got last night
Best,
Judith
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On 7/10/2019 7:22 PM, Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
discussions are heating up on the topic of Zoom both in NCSG mailing list, and on the EURALO discuss mailing list. Isn't this issue more urgent than waiting for a future TTF call, the date of which is, at present, not even set? At least a call from the TTF to ICANN Tech Team to write a Blog of what their risk assessment is, with regards to this conferencing technology? In the meantime, conversations about this are springing up on several other mailing lists... Kindest regards,
Olivier
-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: AW: [EURO-Discuss] Zoom Structural Vulnerability Discovered Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:12:57 +0000 From: Mühlberg, Annette <annette.muehlberg@verdi.de> <annette.muehlberg@verdi.de> To: Jean-Jacques Subrenat <jjs@dyalog.net> <jjs@dyalog.net>, ncsg-discuss@listserv.syr.edu <ncsg-discuss@listserv.syr.edu> <ncsg-discuss@listserv.syr.edu>, Paul Rosenzweig <paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com> <paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com>, EURALO LIST <euro-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org> <euro-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org>, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> <ocl@gih.com>, maureen.hilyard@gmail.com <maureen.hilyard@gmail.com> <maureen.hilyard@gmail.com>
Dear All,
+1 for JJS: set up a specifications sheet for a desirable conferencing tool, based on needs expressed by the multi-stakeholder community, and publish that as a tender. Offers received could then be reviewed not only by Staff, but in consultation with ACs and SOs.
Such needs include data privacy, technical stability and preferably open standards.
Best regards
Annette
***
*Annette Mühlberg *
*Von:* EURO-Discuss <euro-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org> <euro-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org> *Im Auftrag von *Jean-Jacques Subrenat *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 10. Juli 2019 15:22 *An:* ncsg-discuss@listserv.syr.edu; Paul Rosenzweig <paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com> <paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com>; EURALO LIST <euro-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org> <euro-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org>; Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> <ocl@gih.com>; maureen.hilyard@gmail.com *Betreff:* Re: [EURO-Discuss] Zoom Structural Vulnerability Discovered
First, a remark: for Adobe, Zoom or other tool providers, ICANN may not be the single largest client, but it is certainly a significant one owing to its nature (quasi-regulatory, multi-stakeholder, some parts geared to non-commercial users).
Then, a recommendation to Chairs of ACs and SOs: ICANN Board and CEO could be requested to set up a specifications sheet for a desirable conferencing tool, based on needs expressed by the multi-stakeholder community, and publish that as a tender. Offers received could then be reviewed not only by Staff, but in consultation with ACs and SOs.
This would get us closer to what we, collectively, consider as the appropriate tool for the numerous conference calls held throughout ICANN.
Jean-Jacques Subrenat.
Le 10 juillet 2019 à 14:46:20, Paul Rosenzweig ( paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com) a écrit:
This is assuredly right. The change from Adobe to Zoom may, or may not, have been right for ICANN and for this group for any number of reasons ranging from cost, to security, to scalability and utility. But let’s not romanticize Adobe. They are not a terribly secure platform generically. As James said, the Zoom response is poor – but we can’t hang that around the neck of ICANN org.
P
Paul Rosenzweig
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*From:* NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> *On Behalf Of *James Gannon *Sent:* Wednesday, July 10, 2019 12:52 AM *To:* NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU *Subject:* Re: Zoom Structural Vulnerability Discovered
Just want to call out that Adobe has likely the worst reputation in the entire tech industry when it comes to security, I really would not hold them out as either prompt or without serious issues (I believe they still hold the record for number of CVSS 9+ vulns).
Zooms response is poor I agree, but on a data driven comparison it is a far more secure platform.
*From: *NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> on behalf of Ayden Férdeline <icann@FERDELINE.COM> *Reply-To: *Ayden Férdeline <icann@FERDELINE.COM> *Date: *Tuesday, 9 July 2019 at 14:13 *To: *"NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" <NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> *Subject: *Re: Zoom Structural Vulnerability Discovered
That is true, but note that this security researcher notified Zoom of the exploit and they were in no rush to repair it. Look at the timeline in the Medium post. They only sought to fix it after the vulnerability drew media attention.
Adobe Connect was not perfect but it met our needs and the occasional security issues that arose were promptly fixed by Adobe and never as serious as this one!
Best wishes, Ayden
On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 18:07, Adeel Sadiq <11beeasadiq@seecs.edu.pk> wrote:
Speaking from a technical perspective, no software is perfect or bug-free. Its only a matter of time a loophole is found and exploited and eventually patched up. If you think Adobe Connect or ezTalks were/are free of these architectural issues, think again! That's the way we technical community do things.
Regards
Adeel
Pakistan
On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 1:37 AM Ayden Férdeline <icann@ferdeline.com> wrote:
Unfortunately, uninstalling the application does not rectify the situation, due to poor architecture (acknowledged by Zoom on their blog today). They are working on a fix, now that public scrutiny demands one. So disappointing that ICANN has put us in this terrible situation.
Ayden
On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 16:15, Vaibhav Aggarwal, Catalyst & Group CEO < va@BLADEBRAINS.COM> wrote:
Thanks for this. Till the next Update, I have removed the Zoom For Mac Client with immediate effect.
Regards,
Vaibhav Aggarwal
New Delhi
VaibhavAggarwal.com
On Jul 10, 2019, at 12:30 AM, Michael Karanicolas <mkaranicolas@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
Hey - remember when ICANN switched everyone from Adobe over to Zoom as a way of enhancing information security and data privacy?
"A vulnerability in the Mac Zoom Client allows any malicious website to enable your camera without your permission... This vulnerability allows any website to forcibly join a user to a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user's permission. On top of this, this vulnerability would have allowed any webpage to DOS (Denial of Service) a Mac by repeatedly joining a user to an invalid call. Additionally, if you’ve ever installed the Zoom client and then uninstalled it, you still have a localhost web server on your machine that will happily re-install the Zoom client for you, without requiring any user interaction on your behalf besides visiting a webpage. This re-install ‘feature’ continues to work to this day."
Read more here: https://medium.com/@jonathan.leitschuh/zoom-zero-day-4-million-webcams-maybe...
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