Zoom Bombers? Probably from Your Contact List
February 24, 2021
To break up the monotony of quarantine life, a new trend appeared on the Internet due to the large use of videoconferencing. Called “zoombombing,” the new activity is when a stranger joins an online videoconference and disrupts it with lewd comments, activities, and other chaos. Science Magazine shares how zoom bombers are usually not random strangers: “‘Zoombombing’ Research Shows Legitimate Meeting Attendees Cause Most Attacks.”
Zoombombing videos went viral rather quickly. Many of these disruptions incited humor, but soon became annoyances. Boston University and Binghamton University researchers discovered that most zoombombing attacks are “inside jobs.”
“Assistant Professor Jeremy Blackburn and PhD student Utkucan Balci from the Department of Computer Science at Binghamton’s Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science teamed up with Boston University Assistant Professor Gianluca Stringhini and PhD student Chen Ling to analyze more than 200 calls from the first seven months of 2020.
The researchers found that the vast majority of zoombombing are not caused by attackers stumbling upon meeting invitations or “bruteforcing” their ID numbers, but rather by insiders who have legitimate access to these meetings, particularly students in high school and college classes. Authorized users share links, passwords and other information on sites such as Twitter and 4chan, along with a call to stir up trouble.”
Hackers are not causing the problem, but invited participants to the Zoom call. Inside jobs are giggles, but they point to the underlying problem of anonymity. If people are not afraid of repercussions, then they are more likely to say/do racist, sexist, and related things.
The researchers were forced to study antisocial behavior in their studies and had to take mental health breaks due to the depravity.
Whitney Grace, February 24, 2021
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