When Boris Johnson hosted Britain's first videoconferenced Cabinet meeting last week, it took place not through secret military video calling technology, but on Zoom. That is the same app now being used around the world for everything from virtual exercise classes to choir rehearsals.

However, experts warn that a rush to hold virtual meetings through Zoom, which has close to 13 million monthly active users, could pose security risks. The threat is so significant that Ministry of Defence staff were told that the use of Zoom was being suspended with immediate effect while "security implications" were investigated. The biggest worry is that a sudden reliance on Zoom could allow opportunistic hackers to quietly observe video calls as executives are focused on responding to the spread of coronavirus.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a Cabinet meeting over Zoom last week. Credit:Getty

For now, it seems that internet pranksters are content with carrying out disruption to business calls on Zoom, rather than espionage. A recent rise in a phenomenon dubbed "Zoombombing" has seen business conference calls disrupted by strangers who join the video chats and broadcast pornography to everyone logged on - which often results in the calls being quickly ended and embarrassed apologies.

Zoombombing is, for now at least, relatively harmless. But the idea of strangers barging into virtual meeting rooms should raise alarm. What if they had stumbled upon a virtual meeting held by an NHS Trust, or even the Prime Minister taking a Cabinet meeting?