Privacy, security concerns for Zoom users, official says

NEW YORK -- The surge in video conferencing using the app Zoom is raising privacy and security concerns.

New York's Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to the company asking what, if any, new security measures it's put in place to handle the increased traffic.

Tuesday morning, the FBI is warning that hackers have been able to hijack meetings and educational sessions on the app over the last few weeks.

The letter referred to Zoom as an essential and valuable platform, but also noted the company has been slow to address security flaws.

Tips to avoid hackers:

- Do not make meetings or classrooms public. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private: require a meeting password or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.

- Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people.

- Manage screensharing options. In Zoom, change screensharing to "Host Only."

- Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications. In January 2020, Zoom updated their software. In their security update, the teleconference software provider added passwords by default for meetings and disabled the ability to randomly scan for meetings to join.

- Lastly, ensure that your organization's telework policy or guide addresses requirements for physical and information security.