London, April 1: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday held the country's first virtual cabinet meeting amid the coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson also shared a picture of what he called a "digital cabinet meeting". The Prime Minister is currently self-isolating in Downing Street, the official residence of UK Prime Minister, after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Coronavirus Outbreak in UK: Britain Reports Over 500 COVID-19 Deaths in 24 Hours For First Time, Toll Reaches 2,352.

"This morning I chaired the first ever digital Cabinet. Our message to the public is: stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives (sic)," Johnson tweeted with a picture of the virtual cabinet meeting. The picture, shared by Johnson, showed the meeting ID number on video conferencing platform Zoom, as well as the usernames of some ministers taking part. This raised security concerns.

Boris Johnson Tweets Picture of Digital Cabinet Meeting:

Downing Street, however, maintained that Johnson's communication with his cabinet ministers was secure. "I don't think we have named the particular video conferencing tool that we have been using, but as you would imagine we ensured that it was done in a secure way," Prime Minister's spokesperson was quoted as saying. However, according to one cybersecurity expert, Johnson broke a key rule about security.

"Boris Johnson's Twitter post reveals a Zoom meeting ID and what appear to be one or two personal IDs that might correspond to email addresses. In the worst-case scenario, the meeting ID will be reused, the meeting is not protected by a password, and an eavesdropper is able to join. Likewise, Mr Johnson's colleagues might get unsolicited and unwanted email," Jonathan Knudsen, senior security strategist at Synopsys, was quoted as saying.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 01, 2020 08:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).