Zoom video conferencing app has been in the news for quite some time for all the wrong reasons, mainly for its privacy and security issues. It’s no secret now that governments across the world are trying to avoid Zoom for internal meetings after the app was found to be a security and privacy nightmare.
Zoom users all over the world are increasing dramatically. It has said the use of the platform is not safe. The looming concern on Zoom is related to the security loopholes that have been unearthed in multitudes.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, several companies and government authorities have switched to video conferencing — especially Zoom. Because of this sudden growth, several privacy and security concerns surrounding Zoom have come to the fore. Now, a fresh report claims that over 500,000 Zoom accounts have been hacked and are being sold on the dark web.
Now, the government has launched a program for Indian tech companies to come up with an encrypted video conferencing solution that works on all platforms.
The government has asked companies to register for the project by April 30 on the government website. By the end of three phases of the program, The winning team will get ₹1 crore ($130,255) along with a certificate from the Hon’ble Minister of Electronics & IT towards deploying the video conferencing solution.
Basic Requirements needed in the zoom alternative app
- The app’s requirements include support for poor network connectivity and lower-end devices, multilingual closed captions, and encrypted calls.
- The usage of power/ processor should be low.
- Should be able to host multiple concurrent conferences having multiple participants in each conference
- Should have encrypted network communication
- There should be an audio/video recording feature and screen/file-sharing capabilities