The pattern of stories indicated that it was a thing that got attention, so people went digging for whatever they could find and push. You don't need a conspiracy for something to get way more attention than others.

I am not trying to say Microsoft did anything unlawful. However, I am suspicious that these events in 2020 were coordinated.

I remember we knew about Zoom vulnerabilities in 2018 as well but I rarely used video conferencing and definitely not for "daily stand ups" however, I wouldn't discount Microsoft tried its best to "educate" reporters.

http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Megacorps feeding stories to journalists is not a “conspiracy theory.” It isn’t even a secret!

Would they drip-feed what they found though? Sounds like you need some form of coordination for that at least.

The "drip-feed" of people finding things not all at the same time, and basing their search on previous findings?

No conspiracy required, just change "party" to "parties" and "someone" to plural "people".

Zoom went from interesting tool to de facto worldwide standard in about two months. I'm pretty sure that in the offices of Microsoft, webex, goto meeting etc there was a collective WTF from leadership and people were instructed to find weaknesses. It doesn't follow that there was collusion or an evil conspiracy.