German foreign ministry restricts Zoom use citing security concerns: Report

The German foreign ministry has restricted use of the video conferencing service Zoom, saying in an internal memo to employees that security and data protection weaknesses made it too risky to use, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday.

Employees wearing protective clothings wait in the warm sun for the next patient at a coronavirus test station outside the hospital 'Klinikum Nord' in Dortmund, Germany on April 4, 2020. (AP)

The memo added that since the system was in widespread use among the ministry’s international partners, it was currently impossible to ban its use entirely and that in crises employees could use it on private machines for professional purposes.

“Based on media reports and our own findings we have concluded that Zoom’s software has critical weaknesses and serious security and data protection problems,” read the memo cited by Handelsblatt.

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