‘Zoom-bombing or Zoom raiding’ refers to the unwanted, disruptive intrusion, generally by Internet trolls, into a video-conference call.
It happens when a zoom meeting link is posted on social media without the host's permission.
A Zoom bomber’s goal is to wreak havoc in a variety of ways.
A session is ultimately hijacked by unwanted participants and generally material that is lewd, obscene, racist, misogynistic is shared as part of the attack.
Once the hackers gain access to a meeting, typically they share their screens in order to take control of the meeting and bombard attendees with illicit content.
Zoom-bombing has caused significant issues in particular for schools, colleges, companies, and organizations worldwide.
On public forums such as Discord and Reddit, efforts have been coordinated to disrupt Zoom sessions, while certain Twitter accounts advertise meeting ids and passwords or meeting links (allowing users to instantly join a meeting instead of entering the credentials required to access) for sessions that were vulnerable to being joined without authorization.
It comes after UCD lecturer Dr Mary McAuliffe was hosting a talk on violence against women, and was "zoom bombed" by raiders who shouted sexist language and showed pornographic images.
Dr McAuliffe was in the middle of a talk on gender-based violence against women in Clare to a local history society when the "horrific" attack took place.
In an interview with Dublin Live, Dr McAulifee said: She said: "I was just giving a lecture to a local history society on revolutionary violence against women in County Clare. It was local history - not something you would think would bring a targeted attack.
"It was a targeted attack. It wasn't just one person. It was multiple accounts. So, obviously, it was coordinated and targeted and planned.
She added: "About twenty minutes into the talk, there was a bit of noise and I wondered if it was a kid that had unmuted one of the attendees.
"Then, suddenly, you know the way on zoom you can see tiles and you can see faces and stuff, and I could see dick pics and naked penises, erect penises and pornography. There were actual sex acts."
Back in January, a man hijacked an online vigil for teacher Ashling Murphy by exposing himself and appeared to masturbate live on camera.
One of the online speakers was addressing issues around gender violence when the man crashed the vigil.
The online event had been organised for women who were not able to attend the street vigils across Ireland, for people who were isolating, and parents and Irish women living abroad.
The hijacking of the vigil was widely condemned and referred to Gardaí, while the organisers submitted a full report to Zoom.
How can you protect your Zoom call meetings?
Of the millions of users participating in Zoom calls, a portion of those are trolls whose goal is to hijack them with disturbing or distracting content.
Cybersecurity researchers have found that the majority of Zoom bombing incidents are targeted towards online classes.
Zoom has already started putting additional security measures in place to reduce the risk of Zoombombing.
Here is everything you need to know:
Always Set a Meeting Password
Panda Security recommends always setting up your Zoom meetings with a password as one of the easiest ways to keep meetings secure and keep unwanted guests out.
When scheduling a new meeting, simply select the option to add a password.
Zoom will generate one automatically and share it with only those who were invited to the meeting, or your attendees can submit the password when entering the room if prompted.
Set Screen Sharing Controls
Zoom bombers are notorious for hijacking the screen after they’ve made their way into a Zoom call.
You can prevent this by adjusting your screen sharing settings, either before or during the call.
Lock Your Meeting
Hosts have the ability to lock their Zoom meetings once all members have joined. Locking the meeting prevents anyone else from entering.
If your meeting has been crashed by a Zoom bomber, there are a few steps you can take in addition to removing them from the meeting.
Report the intruder to Zoom
If you encounter a Zoom bomber, submit a report to Zoom while the meeting is still in progress, if possible.
If you’re able to submit the report while the meeting is still happening, the host can select the specific participants they want to report and submit it to the Zoom Trust and Safety team for further evaluation.
Remove the intruder from your meeting
While the meeting is in progress, select “Participants” from the host controls, then hover over the name of the person you want to remove and select “Remove.”
Review the Zoom settings above and ensure yours are set to the proper security settings.
Report the incident to relevant authorities
Report the incident in your local Garda Station for further investigation.
