The government of Taiwan prohibits officials from using the teleconference service Zoom any longer during their work. The Taiwanese government is taking that measure for security reasons.
According to experts, the security of Zoom contains holes through which hackers can eavesdrop on conversations and take over computers from participants.
Because people are tied to their homes worldwide due to the corona pandemic, the number of Zoom users has grown by millions in recent weeks. Companies and governments also use the app to keep communicating remotely.
However, the Taiwanese government told all employees on Tuesday in a statement that the use of Zoom is now out of the question. The education department of the city of New York and Elon Musk’s space travel company SpaceX previously banned the communication tool.
Citizen Lab, an Internet safety think tank, said last week in a report that Zoom uses Chinese servers and developers.
For Taiwan, that means a severe security risk, because the government of the People’s Republic of Beijing does not recognize the island nation. The government in Taipei does allow its officials to use Google and Microsoft software for communication.