A virtual meeting hosted by the Federal Reserve was disrupted last week when a Zoom bomber took over the call and began displaying graphic images, according to Reuters. The incident, which is yet another example of the dangers of hosting important meetings online during the COVID-19 pandemic, caused the meeting to be shut down and left host Brent Tjarks, executive director of the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), “deeply regretful”.
The Zoom hijacking was made possible due to the hosts forgetting to mute other participants’ microphones and webcams. A Zoom spokesman told Reuters that the company takes “meeting disruptions extremely seriously” and works with law enforcement authorities when necessary.
The meeting, which was meant to feature a speech from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, was cancelled due to “technical difficulties”. This is not the first time we have seen a Zoom bombing incident. Research from 2021 found that most of these incidents in 2020 were caused by someone posting a link publicly and inviting trolls, mostly affecting schools and universities.
The Justice Department has also gotten involved, warning that hijacking calls is a crime and not a joke. Other instances of Zoom bombings have been less severe than this one, such as Lizet Ocampo, who accidentally turned herself into a talking potato during a 2020 meeting, or Rod Ponton, who forgot to turn off an adorable cat filter for a virtual court case in 2021.
Even with robust password protection and end-to-end encryption in place, stopping Zoom bombings will always be a game of cat and mouse. After all, every video conference will inevitably include at least one person who is bored out of their mind.