Security News > 2020 > June > Zoom changes course on end-to-end encryption and offers it free to everyone
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan announced in a blog post Wednesday that Zoom is extending its end-to-end encryption offering to all Zoom account holders.
Zoom released the first draft of its E2EE plan in late May as part of a response to criticism of its security flaws, which became public as Zoom signups skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initial plan for end-to-end encryption on Zoom was reserved to paid customers only, a choice that Zoom explained as allowing it to cooperate with law enforcement investigations into fraudulent free accounts.
Pressure on Zoom hasn't let up, either: More than half a million accounts have been found for sale on the Dark Web, a third of Zoom users have concerns over privacy issues, and Zoom faced criticism for recently blocking the accounts of Chinese Zoom users holding memorial vigils for the Tiananmen Square massacre despite the fact that the users were located outside of China.
E2EE in Zoom won't be enabled by default-users will need to toggle it on as an option, and free users will have to submit to a one-time identity verification process that Yuan said is designed to "Reduce mass creation of abusive accounts."