Not Zoom, Vidyo is govt’s app of choice during Covid-19 lockdown

Privacy concerns about government meetings came to the fore on April 1, when defence minister Rajnath Singh posted pictures on Twitter of his video conference with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat using Zoom.

A host of privacy concerns related to virtual meetings of top government officials during the Covid-19 pandemic has made them turn to Vidyo, a video conferencing application vetted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

Small toy figures are seen in front of diplayed Zoom logo in this illustration taken March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration(REUTERS)

The app developed by a US-based firm was first used by NIC in 1995 to host studio-based video conferencing. In 2009, the app was used for desktop-based video conferencing. It is the same secure channel that has been extended to officials at home to communicate. NIC data shows that from March 20, four days before the 21-day lockdown began, to April 9, a total of 79,405 calls lasting more than 37,909 hours have been made using the app.

Privacy concerns about government meetings came to the fore on April 1, when defence minister Rajnath Singh posted pictures on Twitter of his video conference with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat using Zoom.

Zoom’s popularity in the government and private sectors surged during lockdowns in many countries. However, numerous security concerns related to the app have emerged. Authorities in Singapore, the US Senate and the German foreign ministry have barred the use of Zoom.

From “zoombombing” or hackers entering private chat rooms to selling of user data, the app has faced criticism. On April 8, Google asked its employees to stop using Zoom.

Talking about Vidyo, NIC director Neeta Verma said: “All the videos are stored on a secure government server and cannot be accessed by anyone else...The app is hosted on our own data centre and is end-to-end encrypted ensuring complete security.”

She added that most ministries and departments were using the Vidyo app for official purposes, although officers may have been using others for their personal calls.

“Although the software is external, all the videos are stored on our own server and cannot be accessed by anyone else. The app is hosted on our own data centre.”

Most ministries, she said, are using Vidyo for official purposes, though officers may have been using other apps for personal calls.

Experts say Zoom could potentially expose the country to security risks.

“The main challenge is if parts of the government, like the military and the home ministry, are using the software, it exposes the country to the risk of sensitive information being routed through foreign infrastructure,” said Sunil Abraham, former executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society.

Abraham said Zoom’s lack of end-to-end encryption is the reason for this exposure. “The call is only encrypted between the user and Zoom, unlike end-to-end encryption. The company still has access to the information,” he said.

“Keeping in view security concerns, the ministry of defence has since refrained from using the app for video conference,” a person familiar with developments told Hindustan Times.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) has been using Vidyo since virtual communications began. “There were security concerns around Zoom that we too read in media reports,” an DoPT official said. “We were sent a link by the NIC on WhatsApp for Vidyo and have been using that. They must have vetted it to ensure it stays confidential.”

On Tuesday, the official said, DoPT secretary C Chandramouli held a meeting with senior officials on Vidyo to “review the present situation and formulate an action plan for the coming week”.

According to a second DoPT official, meetings with the minister of personnel, grievances and pensions, Jitendra Singh, are exclusively held on Vidyo.

“Work has been carrying forth as usual, but security has been our only concern,” the second official said. “Vidyo is the only app used for high-level meetings.”

According to Abraham, however, even Vidyo is not completely secure.

“The government has eliminated 50% of the risk by hosting it,” he said. “But at the same time, you don’t have complete control over the software. You don’t know what the software is doing exactly. It will have to be very closely monitored. It’s okay for low-level ministries but not the top level ones. If you use open source software Jitsi, you can avoid that risk too.”