…new discoveries mean Macs are vulnerable to gaining root access.

Origin: 9 to 5 mac • Ex-NSA hacker finds new Zoom flaws to takeover Macs again, including webcam, mic, and root access
& 10 Zoom alternatives for more secure, cross-platform video calls

Zoom, the popular video call service has had a number of privacy and security issues over the years

Reported by TechCrunch, the new flaws were discovered by Ex-NSA hacker Patrick Wardle, now principal security researcher at Jamf, who detailed his findings on his blog Objective-See.

Wardle goes through a history of Zoom’s privacy and security issues like

• the webcam hijacking we saw last summer
• the calls not actually being end-to-end encrypted as the company claims
• the iOS app sending user data to Facebook
• and more

That brings us to today. Wardle’s new bug discoveries mean Macs are vulnerable to webcam and mic takeover again, in addition to taking gaining root access to a Mac. It does have to be a local attack but the bug makes it relatively easy for an attacker to gain total control in macOS through Zoom.

Then, a second flaw Wardle discovered allows access for hackers to access a Mac’s camera and mic and even record the screen, all without a user prompt.

10 zoom (and face time) alternatives:

• Skype
• Microsoft Teams
• Google Hangouts Meet
• Google Duo
• Cisco Webex
• TeamViewer
• GoToMeeting
• Jitsi (open-sourced)
• Whereby
• Remote HQ