Zoom has emerged as an indispensable video conferencing tool for remote work and study during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a growing number of so-called Zoom-bombing incidents is prompting warnings from the FBI and from the victims themselves.
Zoom has emerged as an indispensable video conferencing tool for remote work and study as millions of people are forced to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic. But a growing number of so-called Zoom-bombing incidents is prompting warnings from the FBI and from the victims themselves.
People participating in meetings and lessons via video conference platforms like Zoom can find their screens hijacked by malicious actors who can put words and images on the screen and in the chat box or create havoc with the audio.
Dennis Johnson said he was in the middle of a video conference defending his doctoral dissertation — about the struggles of African Americans in California’s education system — when he started seeing profanity appear on the screen.
“I’m talking about … students of colour, specifically black students,” said Johnson, 28, in a Skype interview from Long Beach, Calif. ” As I’m talking about this, I see a circle on my screen … then another circle and then I see another shape. It’s a penis.”
Then he saw letters spelling out the N-word.
Johnson says he froze. Seconds later, pornographic images began appearing all over the shared screen. Eventually, someone on the call was able to remove the uninvited culprit from the group.
WATCH | Dennis Johnson is helpless to stop an online attack during his doctoral defence (graphic images and language have been blurred)
Dennis Johnson was helpless to stop a racial slur and pornography appear on screen as he defended a dissertation Mar. 26 in Long Beach, Calif. 1:41
He is the first college graduate in his family, so his mother and 68-year-old grandmother were watching the presentation along with his professors. He says even after he regained his composure and was told he had passed, feelings of sadness replaced what should have been pride.
“I spent three years working on this paper, you know, workin