The increase in Zoom bombing was first witnessed in March 2020 amid COVID-19 related lockdown.
A hateful intrusion during a Jewish congregation service on Zoom has distressed a community of 200 people in Newington, Connecticut. The hack lasted for three seconds and showcased hate speech and Swastikas. The latter is an ancient symbol that was used as an emblem for the German Nazi party.
The service was held on Friday wherein, two hundred people gathered online to remember loved ones who have died, also known as Mourner’s Kaddish. The so-called phenomena; ‘Zoombombing’ not only disrupted the Jewish prayer but also disrespected them.
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The intruders violated the system’s ‘annotate’ feature and posted swastikas whilst playing traditional Jewish music called Klezmer as a background score. In addition to this, the cyber intruders used the chat feature to type spiteful and inappropriate messages.
Rabbi Jeffrey Bennet, the one handling the ceremony quoted the hack as: ‘It was three seconds too long.’ He immediately stopped sharing the screen and a worship service host muted all attendees in hopes to avoid chaos. However, the congregation members were left ‘shocked and shaken’ claims Bennet.
The Temple Sinai leaders have filed a complaint with the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and sent a message to Zoom security regarding the unfortunate incident. Pertaining to this, Zoom claims that the company ‘strongly condemns such behavior’. They have also updated a few features and deployed security measures to avoid such future incidents.
The Newington police force was also alerted and the leaders have been informed that the temple premise will now ensue stringent patrolling.
Due to the global pandemic outbreak, authorities alike have asked people not to gather in groups so as to avoid contracting the virus. Thus, enterprise dependency on applications such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have increased two folds.
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This has in turn amplified cybercriminal activities and intrusions. Hackers exploit vulnerabilities and zoom bomb meetings to spew hate and share inappropriate content. Previously, in another incident, a Church’s online service on Zoom with defaced with child abuse content.
It seems like if you are using Zoom, you are on your own since the company keeps claiming to have improved its security yet religious services, online classes and meetings keep getting defaced with heinous content.
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