Abbotsford teachers not allowed to use Zoom video-conferencing licensed by province

The Abbotsford School District is flagging security concerns around Zoom, a video-conferencing tool recently licensed by the B.C. government, and is advising teachers not to use it. 

In a letter to teachers, superintendent Kevin Godden said parents are "very concerned" about their children using Zoom because of recent news surrounding privacy and security issues with the platform.

"Zoom, with its weak security, and vague privacy policies has become a major target in recent weeks for bad actors to mine personal data, and this will continue to escalate over the next several weeks/months," the memo said.

"Zoom is not an approved resource to use in the Abbotsford School District by any staff."

The province paid for access to Zoom so that teachers could continue virtual learning for students in kindergarten to Grade 12 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Zoom has exploded in popularity since the pandemic forced millions of students and workers to stay at home, but that popularity has exposed some flaws with the platform.

That includes "Zoom-bombing," in which hijackers jump into meetings and take over screen sharing capabilities to post pornographic images or shout profanities through the audio. 

Graham Williams, a tech expert with GetConnected, said Zoom has had to confront its security issues as it went from 12 million monthly users to almost triple that in about two weeks.

Now, he thinks it's the best option out there for video conferencing. 

"Looking at what the provincial government decided to do, having used a lot of these alternatives, I think they made the right call," he said.

Privacy concerns

In the past week, Zoom has upgraded some security measures, including making it a default to have a password when inviting others to meetings, Williams said. 

In an emailed statement, Zoom said it has changed default settings for educational users to enable "virtual waiting rooms" and ensure teachers are the only ones who can share content in an online classroom.

It has also added a new security toolbar icon to allow hosts to quickly access in-meeting security features. Zoom IDs are also no longer displayed on the title toolbar. 

"We are listening to our community of users to help us evolve our approach and help our users guard against these attacks," a Zoom spokesperson said in an email.

Despite this, the Abbotsford School District will instead use Microsoft Office and Google for Education, which it has already invested in "for the last number of years," spokeswoman Kayla Stuckart said in an email. 

"For us, the use of Zoom is a duplication of tools we already have access to, and the susceptibility to security and privacy breaches is a concern for us," she said. 

'I think Zoom actually is quite secure'

In a statement, the B.C. Ministry of Education said it has worked with privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy and that he supports the use of Zoom by educators.

The ministry said school districts have been provided with guidelines to optimize security. Ultimately, teachers don't have to use Zoom — they can choose other online educational tools, it said. 

For teachers and students who will use it, Williams says the most important thing you can do to stay secure is to understand how the platform works.

Practice using it outside of a classroom setting, he said. Learn how to mute and unmute the microphone, how to turn off the camera, and if it is on, ensure the space behind you is tidy and has nothing that could compromise your identity or location.

"Make sure that you're using the security settings that are available. Make sure that things are password protected, don't use a personal meeting ID without that password," he said. 

"Looking at what's on the market right now, I think Zoom actually is quite secure."