A man defending his graduate dissertation at California State University, Long Beach last week said that someone started drawing genitalia and writing racist words onscreen during his presentation, at which his closest friends and family were present. Multiple universities and schools have allegedly experienced Zoombombing during online classes and meetings. Reports of Zoombombing have flooded in from around the country. PCMag reported that Zoombombers have been sharing Zoom meeting IDs and coordinating hacking attacks on online forums, as well as recording their Zoombombing attacks and sharing them on TikTok and YouTube. Users say their meetings have been interrupted by strangers drawing offensive imagery onscreen, sharing pornographic images, doxxing (sharing the person information of) people in the chat, or taunting them with hate speech and threats.

Zoombombing is a type of cyberattack it describes when someone hijacks a Zoom teleconferencing chat. Here’s everything to know about what it is and how to protect your group chats: With Zoom more popular than ever as more Americans are forced to work and socialize from home (the company says 200 million people used it daily in March), Zoombombing is likely going to become more frequent. Worse, these hijackers are targeting communities like schools and universities, organizing efforts, and Alcoholics Anonymous. The FBI has warned against a horrifying new trend on the rise amid coronavirus-related social distancing: “Zoombombing.” Users of the videoconferencing platform Zoom are reporting that their meetings are being taken over by outside actors who often project racist or otherwise hateful imagery onscreen or spew abuse to users in the video chat.

Prevent zoombombing