As coronavirus continues to ravage the nation, the use of Zoom and similar services has been on the rise with companies and schools using the teleconferencing service more than ever.
What We Know:
- The shift to videoconferencing is seen as an opportunity for attackers as white supremacists, hackers, and other trolls barge into digital meetings, a phenomenon known as “Zoombombing”.
- “Zoombombing,” has quickly gained attention across the country. This is a reference to the popular video conferencing platform Zoom in which virtual meetings are disrupted by graphic or threatening messages.
- On March 24, 2020, a white supremacist interrupted a webinar about antisemitism hosted by a Massachusetts Jewish student group by pulling his shirt collar down to reveal a swastika tattoo on his chest.
- The Center on Extremism examined a screenshot of the individual and believes him to be Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer, a known white supremacist and hacker.
- During a virtual Torah lesson on March 22, multiple people interrupted a Jewish study session and shared antisemitic images and language.
- Another incident in Thousand Oaks, California, occurred at an online school board meeting that had to be cut short, after someone shared pornographic images, as well as a Nazi flag and swastika.
As more people begin to look to online sources to keep a sense of normality, it begs the question of what else could go wrong.
