Zoom has disabled the ability to send GIFs using Giphy for the time being. The exact reason is not known, but there is general talk of security issues
Zoom Video Communications is continuing the development of its Zoom video conferencing app, in order to plug the many security holes that clearly emerged during the coronavirus quarantine, during which the platform became one of the industry leaders despite previously being unknown to most.
Many new features were announced on May 20, during the “Ask Eric Anything” webinar that featured the company’s CEO, Eric Yuan. Now new features are coming to the app, while others are being temporarily suspended to increase user safety. Among the features disappearing are the animated GIFs posted on Giphy. Among the features arriving are new restrictions on joining a meeting on Zoom, a new feature involving the “waiting room,” safer screen sharing management for everyone, and more.
Addio GIFs on Zoom, but they’ll be back
Zoom didn’t give any details as to why Giphy’s animated GIFs were temporarily suspended. It merely said that “To ensure robust privacy protection for users, we have temporarily removed GIPHY’s integration into Zoom chat. Once additional technical and security measures are implemented, we will reactivate the feature.” The more observant will remember, however, that it’s not just Zoom that has security and privacy issues with this file format: a few weeks ago cybersecurity firm CyberArk discovered that it’s possible to use just such an animated GIF to steal a Microsoft Teams account.
New security features on Zoom
For one feature that goes away, more come to Zoom. Now for Zoom Pro accounts, screen sharing is preset to “Host Only” – then hosts and co-hosts can grant access to other participants. When a meeting organizer has muted a participant’s audio, they can no longer reactivate that person’s audio without their consent. Also coming soon is a specific beep to indicate when someone enters the waiting room, so hosts can tell on the fly that there is someone waiting to enter the meeting. Now attendees can access meeting information, such as the meeting ID, when sharing a screen. Finally, for meetings that require registration, hosts can choose whether to allow participants to join from multiple devices.