2 Massachusetts schools report having Zoom web conferences hijacked

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    BOSTON, MA (WCVB) — The FBI in Boston is warning about online classroom and teleconferencing hijacking after two Massachusetts schools were targeted.

Officials said reports of so-called Zoom-bombing are emerging nationwide as people turn to video conferencing platforms in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

“Others have used the term Zoom-bombing. We refer to it as VTC hijacking. It’s essentially when an intruder joins a meeting whose not invited,” FBI Cyber Security Agent Doug Domin said.

A Massachusetts-based high school reported this month that while a teacher was conducting an online class using Zoom, a person dialed into the classroom, yelled a profanity and then shouted the teacher’s home address in the middle of instruction, the FBI said.

A second Massachusetts-based school reported a Zoom meeting being accessed by an unidentified individual. In this incident, the individual was visible on the video camera and displayed swastika tattoos.

The FBI recommends that schools do not make meetings or classrooms public, don’t share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post and manage screen sharing options. In Zoom, change screen sharing to “Host Only.”

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