Zoom has become a mainstay for students continuing their studies online and for employees working remotely. This has brought with it a trend via online hackers – Zoombombing, a form of harassment that includes pornography and racial slurs entering conferencing sessions.
Students Zoom Bombed
Westlake High School senior Jordan Scott logged in for her school district’s first public online meeting when she got zoom bombed.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Scott was initially greeted by faces of participants she expected. Then, just before the meeting started, her screen was filled with unknown users “chanting the N-word repeatedly” and overtaken by “close-up pornographic images.”
Even more ominous, Megan Goebel, a mother of two who was on the same call as Scott, told CBS News, “They said, ‘If we were able to get in on your call, we can find out where you live. We can come to your house and do things to your kids.’”
It turns out that this wasn’t an isolated incident, with online events including public schools, universities and corporate conference calls to virtual happy hours, book clubs and live-streamed events being zoom bombed.
Safeguarding Against Zoombombing
In a time when safety feels tenuous at best, the practice of Zoombombing plays on vulnerabilities. For its part, the video conferencing platform attempted to reassure users through the following statement shared by Inside Higher Ed:
“For those hosting large, public group meetings, we strongly encourage hosts to change their settings so that only they can share their screen,” the spokesperson said. “For those hosting private meetings, password protections are on by default, and we recommend that users keep those protections on to prevent uninvited users from joining.”
Many universities and school districts are taking security measures to prevent Zoombombing. On March 20, the Zoom blog released instructions along with a video of actions users can take to prevent hacking.
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Zoom Bombed and Zoombombing — Sources
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