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by dandelo53 2263 days ago
Inferring device does encryption, while silently allowing data leakage in complex ways that are beyond the typical consumer is deceptive at best.

It provides a very weak link to the entire claim of end-to-end.

Security minded knows that you also need attribution and chain of command. Your example of hopping through hoops is your own doing, which you are free to do on your own. For free. This product is provided as a SECURE means of communication and it IS NOT.

You are not an attractive target. That is ok, usually preferred. That is not the situation for everyone. However I bet someone will using Zoom is likely to be a person of influence in a major industry of organization that you have an interest in. With a target in mind, you now have a goal: Find a way to convince zoom to send encrypted comms to any device within reach. Note it doesn't mean you NEED a device to be dumb. You just need the smart device to convize Zooms servers that is is "dumb" (or a land line, fax machine, etc). Once convinced it will happily send the data onward.

This is the type of problem that will eventually be exploited in a major way if their mixed messaging is not curtailed. Suggesting otherwise is only kicking that can down a longer road, off a bigger ciff.

1 comments

> This product is provided as a SECURE means of communication and it IS NOT.

Are you claiming that there are actual customers who believed that if they called up a Zoom conference via a phone number, their connection would be encrypted from their landline phone all the way to the other end, and were surprised to learn it was not?

> With a target in mind, you now have a goal: Find a way to convince zoom to send encrypted comms to any device within reach.

This attack has nothing to do with end-to-end encryption (i.e., it is equally possible against systems that are well-accepted as "end-to-end encryption," so if you're using this as a criterion, nothing is end-to-end encrypted.)

That doesn't mean I don't think it's a problem. That just means I think that words have meanings, and "end-to-end encrypted" is not a synonym for "secure under the threat model I care about," and never has been, for anyone.