In reply to a post by MCM:

I though I had read on the Register but cannot now find, that the Cabinet Office had earlier sent out a message to all departments that Zoom wasn't to be used.

It isn't to be used.
My question would be, why would that message need to be sent in the first place ?
All government hardware should be locked down as a matter of course, that in itself should make it impossible for anyone using a government computer to install anything on it.

In reply to a post by kitfit1:

It isn't to be used.
My question would be, why would that message need to be sent in the first place ?
All government hardware should be locked down as a matter of course, that in itself should make it impossible for anyone using a government computer to install anything on it.

You don't need to install anything to use the Zoom web client so then you're looking at a different way of blocking it. A quick way (which is relatively easy to circumvent if someone has technical knowledge) is just to block requests for zoom.us DNS lookups.

Others appear to have cottoned on!

Post deleted by MrSaffron

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

You don't need to install anything to use the Zoom web client so then you're looking at a different way of blocking it. A quick way (which is relatively easy to circumvent if someone has technical knowledge) is just to block requests for zoom.us DNS lookups.

You'd hope that there's substantial, mandatory endpoint security running on the machines government employees, MPs, etc, are using to conduct their business and that they are expressly forbidden from using anything not provided by uk.gov for these purposes and comply with this.

Wishful thinking on my part, isn't it?

In reply to a post by richardonlin:

finding an alternative to Zoom is the utmost solution for enterprises to run their businesses. Without end-to-end collaboration, meetings in businesses, there is no productivity or efficiency from your employees.

Welcome to the forum Richard

If I didn't know better I would think this is a sales pitch.

Spam I believe it is and dealt with accordingly.

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

Wishful thinking on my part, isn't it?

Shouldn't be, Windows builds in execution control tools, and prior to that we've been using tools from providers such as Lumension (now Ivanti) to whitelist applications.

Its not rocket science!

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

You don't need to install anything to use the Zoom web client so then you're looking at a different way of blocking it. A quick way (which is relatively easy to circumvent if someone has technical knowledge) is just to block requests for zoom.us DNS lookups.

You'd hope that there's substantial, mandatory endpoint security running on the machines government employees, MPs, etc, are using to conduct their business and that they are expressly forbidden from using anything not provided by uk.gov for these purposes and comply with this.

Wishful thinking on my part, isn't it?

Considering the Billions of £'s the government spends on software and computers i would be shocked if all government computers are not fully locked down. Not only with access but bios locked, hardware locked and software locked. If they are not, i would very much love to know what idiot made that decision and why.

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

You'd hope that there's substantial, mandatory endpoint security running on the machines government employees, MPs, etc, are using to conduct their business and that they are expressly forbidden from using anything not provided by uk.gov for these purposes and comply with this.

Wishful thinking on my part, isn't it?

I think BYOD is the trendy thing these days and it's a nightmare. Having said that, I was recently chatting to someone who works for one of the large consulting firms. Their internal systems are supposed to be pretty locked down so sending dodgy files to their internal systems should be difficult. Except it's still possible to do it via WhatsApp.