BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Businesses, schools, churches and other organizations are using platforms like Zoom and other video teleconferencing methods to stay connected amidst the growing COVID-19 crisis, but the FBI reports online hackers are taking advantage of this.
Monday, the YMCA of Buffalo Niagara posted on Facebook saying their live family story time was hacked.
"Unfortunately, unknown participants used inappropriate language and other vulgar content in the platform," the post said.
The YMCA says it is using Zoom to stay connected with its members, but has made necessary steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.
The FBI is warning people using these platforms of something called "Zoom-bombing" and says they have "received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language."
The FBI says this is how you can keep your meetings out of the hands of hackers:
- Do not make meetings or classrooms public. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private: require a meeting password or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.
- Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people.
- Manage screensharing options. In Zoom, change screensharing to “Host Only.”
- Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications. In January 2020, Zoom updated their software. In their security update, the teleconference software provider added passwords by default for meetings and disabled the ability to randomly scan for meetings to join.
- Lastly, ensure that your organization’s telework policy or guide addresses requirements for physical and information security.
