Blake Dowling
Are you currently using Zoom to run your business? Did you in BC (before coronavirus)?
CNBC is reporting users have gone from 10 million in December to 200 million in March.
With rapid growth comes growing pains; user adoption can present yet another set of barriers to overcome, and then begin the shenanigans from those that wish to wreak havoc. They are calling these individuals “Zoom bombers” or “Zoom raiders.”
Regarding users, I am sure you saw the young lady go into the restroom while on her corporate Zoom meeting.
Ridiculous. Poor Jennifer. You can find that one on your own if you want; we will not be linking that here.
We launched our first video meeting a couple of weeks ago, and one of our team members got on the call without his shirt off. Fail.
CPA Julian Dozier from Tallahassee’s Thomas Howell Ferguson tweeted: “A good working from home tip is to dress for the day close to as normal as possible.” Good tip.
I also have the Brady Bunch song stuck in my head too from these Zoom calls; hopefully, that too shall pass.
So, back to “Zoom bombing.” What is this?
Do you remember the person in middle school who would not stop talking in class, or who would write something profane on the chalkboard while everyone was out, ready to appear when the teacher raised the white screen or map?
The definition of Zoom bombing — someone who crashes Zoom meetings.
A good rule of thumb is never to make Zoom meetings public. Do not share links to meetings on social media, etc.
The host should also be able only to accept invites from guests that he or she wants in on the meeting.
Last week, the University of Florida Student Senate found out the hard way what happens when you post a public meeting and trolls find it.
Joining the UF Senate were those who wanted to spread messages of hate and profanity. By the end, the police and University President, Kent Fuchs was involved. You can read about that incident in detail from our friends at the Independent Florida Alligator here.
These attacks are happening all over the nation: in schools, businesses, and anywhere people are gathering digitally. They even targeted an online Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
The FBI alert can be found here.
The world is adjusting to a new reality, and there is undoubtedly a learning curve to embrace these new tools. Regarding cybersecurity, make sure to follow industry best practices. In Miami, where everyone has enough to worry about at the moment, a teacher was wrapping up a Zoom chemistry class when a new person popped into the class and started insulting the teacher with profanity.
You can dive into that story here.
As a user, you can protect yourself by using passwords, etc. The platform itself is doing its best to play catch up also on security features, as well.
In early April, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan launched a message to the world with a thorough briefing.
As we keep remote Florida moving forward, make sure you are protecting yourself from threats as best you can as there is an entire community that sadly is getting a kick out of this, as you can see from this how-to guide easily found online and the multitude of comments.
These attacks are pretty pathetic, as people struggle to make ends meet and stay safe, so make sure you are taking the necessary steps to avoid them.
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Blake Dowling is CEO of the Aegis Bunch, the host of the Biz & Tech Podcast, and writes for several organizations. He can be reached at [email protected].
As we close today, here’s some much-needed comedy based on our friends from Tiger King/North Florida version:
