The Washington Post’s coverage of Zoom’s security issues couldn’t have come at a more ironic time. The world flocked to the platform overnight, and almost immediately we discovered that the convenience we loved came bundled with a handful of privacy surprises. “Zoombombing” became a household term, which is not something any brand likely wants on its vision board.
This moment highlights a pattern we see repeatedly in tech: rapid adoption exposes the shortcuts nobody cared about until millions of people were using the product simultaneously. Suddenly encryption matters. Authentication matters. Default settings matter in ways that weekly feature updates never will.
Zoom’s response – rapid upgrades, transparency, and a 90-day security sprint – was the right move, but the bigger lesson is that trust is built slowly and lost instantly. Especially when the tool becomes the new office, classroom, and social gathering space all at once.
If our digital platforms are becoming our workplaces, shouldn’t we expect the same level of security as any physical office? And what responsibilities do companies have to anticipate risks before users stumble into them?
Related article: Washington Post
