Watch out! Hackers are bombing Zoom classes with porn
What's the story
As India faces the COVID-19 lockdown, educators are rushing to use digital resources to ensure students keep learning even while being at home. The effort, combined with other remote meeting needs, has led to the rise of Zoom, a popular video-conferencing platform. But, amid all this, a major problem is looming around the use of Zoom - porn bombing. Here's all about it.
Incident
Chandigarh school's science session bombed with porn
Just recently, a school in Chandigarh, which started using Zoom for online classes, witnessed a session hack. Their teacher was about to begin a lecture on reproduction for about 45 of her Class X students. But, as she locked the conference and stepped out to check her audio/video quality, a pornographic film started playing on a student's screen out of nowhere.
Problem
It took her about 5 minutes to end the session
At first, the teacher, who was still new to Zoom, did not realize what was happening, but when she noticed, it was already a few minutes before the session could end. Later, when the school got in touch with the student whose screen played the adult content, they refuted any involvement, noting that their father was also present when the incident took place.
Possibility
Experts say this was a case of zoom-bombing
While the school decided against reporting the incident to the police, cybercrime experts suggest that this was a typical case of Zoom bombing, where an unknown party from outside gatecrashes a Zoom meeting. Several instances of Zoom-bombings have been reported in the past, with attackers hijacking (and disrupting) meetings by drawing offensive imagery, playing porn, sharing personal information of participants or making hate comments.
Other cases
Other educators have also reported this
Apart from this, schools in Delhi have also reported instances of Zoom sessions being hijacked. The complaints largely revolved around the use of abusive and threatening language by the students using pseudo names, said MS Rawat, general secretary, Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools, Delhi. "They used to create panic during the online class, forcing the teacher to end the session abruptly," he added.
Advisory
Home Ministry has already advised against using Zoom
Owing to this, and several other privacy-related debacles, the Union Home Ministry of India has already advised officials/citizens against using Zoom, noting that it is not safe. The government of Singapore has also asked schools to refrain from using the service in the wake of several cases of video session hacks, where attackers targeted teachers and students with obscene imagery and lewd comments.
Questions
Questions remain over online teaching medium
That said, with the problem of Zoom-bombing, the situation demands a clear and secure way for online classes. Joseph Emmanuel, the Director of Academics at CBSE, told HuffPost that they have recommended online coaching to affiliated schools but not the medium, as the schools cannot afford it. Schools should use YouTube and WhatsApp groups to connect and teach students during the lockdown, he added.