Customer privacy and security breaches linked to thousands of “Zoombombing” incidents have been settled for $85 million by Zoom Video Communications.
During a videoconference, a hacker or an uninvited guest may post pornographic or hateful images, or disrupt the meeting in some other way.
A Zoom executive acknowledged the problem last year, stating that the company’s practices have since changed.
Zoom was accused of sharing users’ data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn without their consent in a class-action lawsuit filed in California last year.
It was alleged in the complaint that the technology company was responsible for Zoombombing incidents on its platform due to lax security.
Last year, Zoombombs were dropped on two Massachusetts schools. In 2020, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers held a Zoom conference with 200 attendees, which was also compromised by a third-party hacker group. California’s Laguna Beach City Council met on the same day that pornography was leaked at a real estate conference.
A proposed settlement filed by lawyers for Zoom users would offer a 15 percent refund on their paid account, or $25 if that amount is greater.
Customers without a paid account would receive $15, court documents state.
Lawyers wrote in the settlement that “all class members are eligible for payment, regardless of whether or not they paid for a Zoom account.”
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