FWIW, the following is a summary of an investigative report released by Citizen’s Lab on Friday, Citizen's Lab being a well-respected cybersecurity institution (part of the University of Toronto). They are well known in the field as objective researchers looking into exploitable weaknesses that pose a risk to a sector, or holistically (https://citizenlab.ca/2020/04/move-fast-roll-your-own-crypto-a-quick-look-at-the-confidentiality-of-zoom-meetings/):

1. Zoom misrepresents the encryption it uses, calling it “end-to-end” encryption. In April 2020 Zoom released a blog post clarifying that their encryption is between an individual’s device and the Zoom server, NOT the entire communication. IOW, not "end-to-end" encryption as industry uses the term

2. Zoom uses custom encryption which does a poor job of masking everything (in the report, you can still make out the outlines of an encrypted picture encrypted using Zoom's algorithm), and is predictable. And Zoom's keys are weak; AES-128 vice traditional AES-256

3. In making Zoom idiot-proof (called "low friction") Zoom created a number of vulnerabilities, some of which have been discussed in the press the past few days

4. Even with all parties to a call in the US, encryption keys come from China, creating the risk that Chinese govt can force Zoom to share keys and gain access

5. Nation states are now well aware of Zoom’s vulnerabilities and likely targeting users

6. Zoom provides 0 transparency about what it shares when served with legal process

7. Zoom's Waiting Room has a vulnerability (not publicly disclosed b/c they want Zoom to fix before ppl take advantage)

Anonymous wrote:If the county expect teachers to work from home, they should pay for the technology needed to do that job. Until the county is willing to do that, you will just have to accept that her Zoom class won't work. Hopefully she is posted other lessons/materials that your child can access. This is NOT the teachers fault. She should not have to spend money to to make her internet connection better. There is nothing that be done to fix the issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's possible it's on the host's end but Zoom is getting absolutely hammered right now with the volume of meetings they are trying to host. We have about 200 business accounts and they seem to be still working well. Zoom is likely throttling bandwidth for the free accounts as they've seen a major spike in usage. I'm not sure how MCPS is licensed for Zoom but this will likely get worked out quickly. I will just add that if you are going to call in via phone, don't use the toll-free number if you can avoid using it. There is actually an added per minute cost to use those numbers.

When every kid and the helper can be heard perfectly, but not the teacher, chances are it's a problem at the teacher's end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's possible it's on the host's end but Zoom is getting absolutely hammered right now with the volume of meetings they are trying to host. We have about 200 business accounts and they seem to be still working well. Zoom is likely throttling bandwidth for the free accounts as they've seen a major spike in usage. I'm not sure how MCPS is licensed for Zoom but this will likely get worked out quickly. I will just add that if you are going to call in via phone, don't use the toll-free number if you can avoid using it. There is actually an added per minute cost to use those numbers.

When every kid and the helper can be heard perfectly, but not the teacher, chances are it's a problem at the teacher's end.

Anonymous wrote:It's possible it's on the host's end but Zoom is getting absolutely hammered right now with the volume of meetings they are trying to host. We have about 200 business accounts and they seem to be still working well. Zoom is likely throttling bandwidth for the free accounts as they've seen a major spike in usage. I'm not sure how MCPS is licensed for Zoom but this will likely get worked out quickly. I will just add that if you are going to call in via phone, don't use the toll-free number if you can avoid using it. There is actually an added per minute cost to use those numbers.