Why I don't zoom in on my Mac ...

No Access for Zoom

I would like the Meeting software Zoom do not do badly or whose security gaps emerge again, especially since many of them have long been fixed. It's more about explaining my personal view of why I refrain from installing the Zoom app on my Mac - even if the whole world is now jumping on Zoom and holding meetings with the app.

In the end, Zoom has achieved a place in front of Skype, Microsoft Teams, Go to Meeting, Lifesize, Jitsi or BigBlueButton through stable connections, simple operation and good functions for the administration of the sessions.

With its software solution for companies, Zoom offers the possibility of holding video meetings and chats online.
With its software solution for companies, Zoom offers the possibility of holding video meetings and chats online.

What is zoom anyway?

Zoom is US video conferencing software and is headquartered in California. There is not only the opportunity to talk to each other via video, but also a chat and so-called "breakout sessions". In these sessions, all participants are thrown together in small groups. This is well suited when group work (e.g. in university seminars) is due.

It is also possible to record the online meeting here. If you have been to another meeting, have missed it for other reasons, or want to call up the most important information again, you can watch or listen to everything again. Another function is screen sharing, which can be useful for presentations, for example, whether for teammates or fellow students.

Personally hardly any need for video meetings

The main purpose of Zoom is so that you can meet multiple people online and everyone can see and hear each other. By several people I mean three or more, because a virtual meeting with two people can be done very well with Facetime, Skype or Whatsapp.

Zoom is often used for larger teams or online job interviews. Zoom can be an advantage, especially when there are several people who all work from different locations.

The software is also free for short video conferences of up to 40 minutes. After this time has elapsed, the meeting is ended and may have to be restarted.

In my case there is no team to meet with. Usually it is a customer and yours truly who confer. Seen in this way, there is simply no need for me for Software like Zoom or their alternatives.

Security of my data or my Mac

The second reason why I don't install Zoom on my Mac is my concerns about the security of the software. Basically, you can see a potential danger in any software, but Zoom has distinguished itself by wanting to make the installation process on the Mac particularly easy and, with questionable technical means, managed that you don't even have to press "Install" in the installer. If you want to know how it works technically, you can here and here read it on Twitter.

With this, Zoom has created a security hole that even allows the takeover of the entire Mac (see heise.de). And this wasn't the only case where Zoom got negative results. If you write down a few reports from the last 12 months, you get this list:

  • Unintentional camera activation possible (07/2019)
  • Mac cameras can be switched on via Zoom vulnerability (07/2019)
  • Code injections allow eavesdropping and root (01/2020)
  • Secret data transfer from iOS users to Facebook (03/2020)
  • Security gaps allow theft of Windows passwords and takeover of the Mac including activation of camera and microphone (04/2020)

According to its own statements, Zoom now has a good 300 million users worldwide per day. The last security problems only appeared recently at the end of April and beginning of May 2020. This time there were four bugs that allowed password theft under Windows and takeover of the Mac with access to the camera and microphone.

To times TechCrunch to quote on the silent update Apple had to carry out because of Zoom because the company could not get the problem under control itself:

Apple often performs silent signature updates on Macs to thwart known malware - much like an anti-malware service - but it is rare for Apple to take public action against a known or popular application. The company said it pushed the update to protect users from the risks posed by the exposed web server.

For me, the Zoom app will certainly not come to the Mac. If necessary, then at most on my iPad - due to the better security restrictions of iOS.
For me, the Zoom app will certainly not come to the Mac. If necessary, then at most on my iPad - due to the better security restrictions of iOS.

Another problem that is often cited is the fact that Zoom's servers are in China and the US. There was criticism due to the GDPR: This is how data is sent to China and also to the USA. However, improvements have already been made: You can now select which server location you want to allow in addition to the USA.

One advantage of Zoom is that it installs quickly. At this point, however, it is often criticized that this overrides some protection settings. The meeting could be recorded unintentionally and third parties could access the laptop microphone and the camera. However, there was already a statement from Zoom that this problem should be resolved.

There is also criticism of the lack of end-to-end encryption, instead of which there is only transport encryption. In this way, the company could access the transferred data.

There was also the so-called "zoom bombing", where strangers logged into the meeting, especially with school classes, and shared inappropriate content or generally disrupted the class. To counteract this, separate passwords were created for each meeting, some of which were only shared shortly before the start of the meeting.

More attention - more security gaps?

You already know the game: the more a software or operating system is in focus, the more people look to see whether they can find security problems here. Even with the iPhone, every small opportunity to hack it is given a cover story in the last local newspaper, while with other operating systems there is much less fuss if someone can come into the system as an admin without being asked.

For that reason, Zoom may not be more or less insecure than other video conferencing software, but it just looks like it because there are more messages.

The fact that they have already taken such questionable paths with their installer, which otherwise only malware on the Mac uses to install itself with root rights, means that I have relatively little confidence in the future activities of the Zoom- Teams have.

There are tips on the internet on how to disable the Zoom web server which was one of the main problems. Apple has now switched off the Zoom web server for all Mac users with a security update.
There are tips on the internet on how to disable the Zoom web server which was one of the main problems. Apple has now switched off the Zoom web server for all Mac users with a security update.

Installation on iPhone and iPad less problematic

If I still need to use Zoom at some point, I will use the iOS app "Zoom Cloud Meetings” from Zoom. The lockdown that Apple operates on iOS to set clear boundaries for software is a blessing here. There is simply a lot less potential for security problems with the Zoom app than with macOS and Windows.

The sandboxing of iOS includes apps to a certain extent, and access to the microphone and camera is significantly more limited than is the case on a Mac. And if you uninstall the app under iOS, there are no running web servers waiting in the background for someone from outside with the right technology to take over the computer or smartphone.

Zoom's strength: solid video transmission even with poor internet

In spite of everything, I would like to break a lance for Zoom. In contrast to most alternatives, Zoom somehow manages - even under adverse internet conditions - to create reliable connections and to make video meetings stable. This is not a personal experience, but a finding that I have heard in many places in podcasts or read in blog articles. So if you are professionally dependent on video conferencing, you will meet Zoom sure a good choice.

A new user can only be set up for Zoom meetings under System Settings> Users and Groups.
A new user can only be set up for Zoom meetings under System Settings> Users and Groups.

This can be particularly advantageous if you work from your home office with several people and all have video conferences at the same time, or if you live in a shared apartment and several roommates have to attend seminars or lectures at the same time.

Another advantage, as already mentioned above, is the ease of use. This enables everyone to use this software - in an emergency, colleagues and fellow students can certainly help out.

Tip: Install Zoom under a new Mac user

If you absolutely must run the software on a Mac, I would recommend doing so under a new user. To do this, set up a new user on the Mac under System Preferences > Users & Groups. Important: Please do not check the option "The user can administer this computer", otherwise the user will have admin rights, which in turn involves a certain risk. Then you log in as this user and install Zoom only for this user.

The advantage of installing with a new standard user is that Zoom then only lives in that user's "bubble" and cannot run in the background on other accounts while you work with your main user.

At least that is my understanding of user separation under macOS Catalina. If anyone is more knowledgeable about this thing, I would appreciate a comment to see if I am right here.

In addition, it is of course advisable not to share any sensitive information such as account details or passwords in the chat. This also includes links that no third party should see.

It is also important to have the latest version of Zoom installed. With this some problems have already been fixed. Nonetheless, installing it for a new Mac user is advisable if you want to be on the safe side.

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11 Responses to "Why I can't get Zoom on my Mac..."

    1. To quote various Hollywood stars: "You always have a choice." :D But seriously. I'm not saying anything against installing Zoom on your Mac, but you should be aware of the danger and try to minimize it. Of course there are also many employees whose boss insists on Zoom, but then I would say that you at least create a new user for the company to run Zoom there and the rest for the job.

  1. Better idea: Install Chrome and then Zoom as a Chrome extension. Thus, Zoom is “trapped” in the Chrome sandbox. This is how I do it...

    1. Hello! Thanks for your tip. This is really a good idea because you don't have to create a new user. Zoom's Chrome extension can be found here.

  2. There should also be a variant where you can log in via a browser, so nothing has to be installed. Is that true, and if so, are there any risks involved?

    1. Yes, as already mentioned by the other reader, you can also use the Chrome plugin to use Zoom. In any case, the risk is only as low as with any other plugin, because there is no such strange installation process. It would also be my choice now if I had to use zoom.

      1. Excellent tips for using zoom, thanks.
        Question: who has experience with Zoom extensions for Firefox or Opera?

      2. It also works without a browser plug-in - here is the article on Netzwelt https://www.netzwelt.de/anleitung/178209-zoom-browser-nutzenso-gehts.html

        But it is somehow telling that you have to “outsmart” Zoom here by pretending that the installation that was actually attempted here (from there) does not work for some reason (for example, the automatically starting download of the Cancel software manually ...)

        But only then suddenly appears - almost out of nowhere - the clickable option to run the whole thing purely via the browser. In other words, those interested in zooming who are not aware of the fact that they have not previously obtained more detailed information from somewhere else do not even get the chance to make a decision in the "normal" process whether he / she prefers to zoom via the app (with all its questionable permissions) want to use (only) in the browser.

        If one tries in such a way to clandestinely undermine the self-determination of the user, in my opinion it is a very good reason not to work with this software at all - vera…. I can finally myself!

        But if you are practically forced to use zoom due to the context (employer or similar), the route via the application purely in the web browser should be the only halfway bearable one.

        By the way, I couldn't manage the described way on an Android tablet: (also) there the Zoom app will first be downloaded in any case without being asked (even if not installed immediately), but I didn't manage to open the browser ( Chrome) to the point where he thinks you are stuck, so that he then shows the link for the pure browser use of Zoom, as was the case on the Mac ...

        1. Zoom's reasoning for these weird things is: We want a good user experience. You have the opposite effect ... Thanks also for the hint with the detour for using it without a browser. I didn't know that yet.

  3. Dear Sir Apfelot and all the smart ones here ;-)

    In one of the many creepy reports about Zoom (by heise, last year) it said that

    EVEN _ AFTER DELETING_ THE APP

    the really bad security gap still exists (camera takeover ...) !!!

    I had NEVER heard anything like that before that such a blatant security hole could persist after deleting an app.
    :-(
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Any questions:
    1) HOW exactly (for stupid people please!) Can you scrape all, all, all disgusting remnants of this app out of the Mac? (If unfortunately installed normally on the main user).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    2)
    What is "safer"
    a) only use in the browser
    (even possible in Safari / Firefox?) or
    b) in the variant mentioned by Sir Apfelot, creating an extra user? (WITHOUT "The user may administer this computer")

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    3) Please report on yours

    Experience with Jitsi.

    How easy is it when you invite someone to a Jitsi meeting who is not so tech-savvy?
    Differences for an invitee Mac vs. Windows?
    What do you have to consider?

    Many thanks to everyone :-))

    1. Hello! Yes, Zoom had a web server running in the background, which practically continued to run - even after deinstallation - but had a serious security hole. Since only the program was thrown away when it was removed, but the server continued to run, the security hole persisted. However, Apple fixed this itself with its own update, which the Mac installed without any action on the part of the user, and threw the crap out. So the bottom line is that the crap is now safely removed from all people (at least with the Mac).

      I currently consider the version with the Chrome plugin to be the safest and most comfortable, as you don't have to create your own user.

      Unfortunately, I can't say anything about Jitsi personally because I haven't tried it. But other readers may have experience with it. LG! Jens

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