As the coronavirus pandemic has forced schools and businesses to move to video-teleconferencing and online learning, the FBI is now warning people about hijacking.
The FBI has received several reports of VTC hacking, also called ‘Zoom-bombing’, involving conferences being disrupted by pornographic or hate images and threatening language, according to a statement by the FBI’s Boston office.
Two schools in Massachusetts have already reported incidents.
“In late March 2020, a Massachusetts-based high school reported that, while a teacher was conducting an online class using the teleconferencing software Zoom, an unidentified individual(s) dialed into the classroom,” the FBI said. “This individual yelled a profanity and then shouted the teacher’s home address in the middle of instruction.”
A second Massachusetts-based school reported a Zoom meeting was accessed by an unidentified individual.
“In this incident, the individual was visible on the video camera and displayed swastika tattoos,” authorities said.
The FBI said there are several steps to mitigate teleconference hijacking.
- Do not make meetings or classrooms public. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private; require a meeting password or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.
- Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people.
- Manage screen-sharing options. In Zoom, change screen-sharing to “Host Only.”
- Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications. In January 2020, Zoom updated their software. In their security update, the teleconference software provider added passwords by default for meetings and disabled the ability to randomly scan for meetings to join.
- Ensure that your organization’s telework policy or guide addresses requirements for physical and information security.
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