Zoom allows enterprise customers to own their encryption keys

Enterprise users of video collaboration platform, Zoom, will now be able to have ownership over encryption keys for data being generated on the platform. The feature, called Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) or Customer Managed Key (CMK) allows enterprises to create their own encryption keys to protect data on some of Zoom’s offerings.

This includes cloud recordings of Zoom meetings (including transcripts and chat texts), cloud recordings of Zoom webinars, phone voicemails and recordings, calendar access tokens for zoom Rooms, user calendar access tokens, Microsoft Teams access tokens, and archiving for meetings and webinars.

CMK is a popular feature provided by many cloud services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. Cloud service providers, like Microsoft, Google and Amazon, too, allow enterprises to generate their own encryption keys, to have control over protecting their data. In a blog post, Zoom said that it supports CMK for customers using the AWS Key Management Services.

Creating custom encryption keys is often a requirement for enterprises, especially with regard to new privacy laws like the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Using such keys allows enterprises to retain access over sensitive data (like personally identifiable information of users), allowing them more visibility into who is accessing sensitive information and to revoke that access is required.

To be sure, Zoom isn’t the only enterprise collaboration platform that allows CMKs for enterprises. Competitors like Microsoft also offer the service for Teams, its direct competitor for Zoom. Slack, an enterprise communication tool owned by Salesforce, also allows customers to own their encryption keys, while Google offers client-side encryption on Google Meet as well.