Our Risk Management Department have received reports of an increase in malicious attacks on video conferencing software such Zoom and WebEx.
The use of video conferencing has increased significantly in recent weeks, as the COVID-19 health crisis has forced many of us to work from home. The convenience of video-conferencing has proven invaluable at this time, as it allows for face-to-face communication, while following social distancing best practices. Despite its conveniences, hackers have found ways to cause disruptions.
Known as “Zoom-bombing”, hackers have been able to infiltrate some Zoom meetings to upset participants by shouting profanity and/or racial slurs, or by putting disturbing or offensive images in their video feeds. The hackers gain access by using information shared about the meeting, such as the meeting’s URL, and join in an attempt to cause disruption, steal information or share a virus.
The New England Division of the FBI have received multiple reports from schools and businesses about individuals joining their meetings and showing obscenities or pornographic images.
In light of these reports, we would like to remind you to remain vigilant and aware of possible threats being made to the common technology that we use daily. Please also be mindful of your meeting attendees.
Below are suggestions on how to protect video-conference meetings:
- Do not make meetings public
- Use meeting passwords and/or use the waiting room feature to control the admittance of guests
- Do not share the link to publicly available websites such as social media pages; instead, send the meeting links directly to invited participants
- Always make sure you are using the latest version of the application and install updates to your apps as soon as they are made available
