'Zoom-bombing' attacks on video conferencing platform leave victims shaken - CBC.ca | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Tech

'Zoom-bombing' attacks on video conferencing platform leave victims shaken – CBC.ca

Published

5 years ago

 on


Zoom has emerged as an indispensable video conferencing tool for remote work and study as millions of people  are forced to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic. But a growing number of so-called Zoom-bombing incidents is prompting warnings from the FBI and from the victims themselves.

People participating in meetings and lessons via video conference platforms like Zoom can find their screens hijacked by malicious actors who can put words and images on the screen and in the chat box or create havoc with the audio.  

Dennis Johnson said he was in the middle of a video conference defending his doctoral dissertation — about the struggles of African Americans in California’s education system — when he started seeing profanity appear on the screen.

“I’m talking about … students of colour, specifically black students,” said Johnson, 28, in a Skype interview from Long Beach, Calif. ” As I’m talking about this, I see a circle on my screen … then another circle and then I see another shape. It’s a penis.”

Then he saw letters spelling out the N-word.

Johnson says he froze. Seconds later, pornographic images began appearing all over the shared screen. Eventually, someone on the call was able to remove the uninvited culprit from the group.

WATCH | Dennis Johnson is helpless to stop an online attack during his PhD defence (graphic images and language have been blurred)

 Dennis Johnson was helpless to stop a racial slur and pornography appear on screen as he defended a dissertation Mar. 26 in Long Beach, Calif. 1:41

He is the first college graduate in his family, so his mother and 68-year-old grandmother were watching the presentation along with his professors. He says even after he regained his composure and was told he had passed, feelings of sadness replaced what should have been pride.

“I spent three years working on this paper, you know, working on this research,” he said. “This moment was taken away from me in front of my family, in front of my friends. I was disrespected on a level that I could never imagine.”

Zoom-bombing is becoming more frequent in Canada, as well, with unidentified visitors entering private online meetings and classrooms to spew racial and sexist slurs.

Russ Klein, the head of a Jewish high school in Vancouver, told CBC News that a community gathering the school was hosting on Zoom on Tuesday was infiltrated.

Earlier this week, a 250-guest virtual town hall held by Toronto’s YWCA to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on women was Zoom-bombed as well. 

“They started shouting racial epithets, they shouted the N-word,” said YWCA Canada CEO, Maya Roy. “Two YWCA employees were sexually harassed. Comments were made about them in the chat function.”

FBI issues warning, tips

The number of incidents, known among security experts as “video teleconferencing (VTC) hijacking,” has been alarming enough that it prompted a warning from the FBI earlier this week.

“The best mitigation strategy at this point is just to let a lot of the users know that this is going on, because they’re going to be the ones that are able to protect themselves best,” Boston-based FBI special agent Doug Domin, who primarily works on cyber cases, told CBC News.

The agency also released a tip sheet that included the following:

  • Keep VTC meetings private by issuing users a password or employing the “waiting room” function, which requires the host to invite each guest individually.
  • Don’t share invitation links on social media.
  • Keep software updated to stay on top of any security patches provided by VTC companies.

Response from Zoom

But both Roy and Johnson say they took precautions: Johnson says his faculty used the waiting room function to monitor who was part of the dissertation meeting, and Roy says while the YWCA town hall was promoted on Twitter, joining it was password-protected.

Dennis Johnson, the first college graduate in his family, says the racist Zoom-bombing during his dissertation defence affected him emotionally. (Submitted by Dennis Johnson)

They say Zoom — whose shares have doubled in price since the COVID-19 crisis erupted in January and has experienced record downloads — should take more responsibility.

Johnson started an online petition to compel the VTC company to improve its security features. By Thursday night, it had amassed more than 30,000 signatures.

Zoom, which has already been forced to apologize for not being forthcoming about its security limitations, says it’s providing guidance to help virtual classrooms and meetings stay safe. But it hasn’t specified any plans to offer additional controls for users to prevent harassment and online attacks.

“We strongly encourage hosts to review their settings, confirm that only the host can share their screen, and utilize features like host mute controls and ‘Waiting Room,'” Zoom said in a statement to CBC News.

Marginalized groups a target

Johnson and Roy say Zoom-bombing should be investigated as hate speech because marginalized groups appear to be the main targets.

“Women, people of colour, Jewish community groups and the queer community,” said Roy. “The onus shouldn’t be on us to protect ourselves against hate online.”

While Domin says the FBI is looking into a handful of incidents in Boston, “it’s a difficult process to conduct an investigation over borders.”

“There’s no accountability online,” he said.

The FBI also says it’s hard to quantify how these types of security invasions can affect people personally, but children in particular who are exposed to graphic material or racist messages in an online classroom, for example, can have a tough time understanding what happened and why.

Johnson says even as an adult, it’s been difficult to process his own experience. He says the incident will have a lasting effect.

“Whenever somebody says ‘Dr. Dennis Johnson,’ I’m going to remember that moment and I’m going to be saddened a little,” said Johnson. “But I’m also going to remember that you have to push and you have to continue and don’t stop.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

News

The Internet is Littered in ‘Educated Guesses’ Without the ‘Education’

Published

1 week ago

 on

October 8, 2024

By

Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.

The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.

Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.

The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.

Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.

On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.

The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.

More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.

Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:

  • You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
  • This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
  • In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!

Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.

Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.

There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.

Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.

Successful people tend to be secretive.

Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.

Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.

Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.

______________________________________________________________

 

Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

 

Continue Reading

Tech

Tight deadlines on software projects can put safety at risk: survey

Published

1 week ago

 on

October 8, 2024

By

 

TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.

Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.

The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.

The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.

The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.

Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.

“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.

The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.

“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”

The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.

However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.

That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.

“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.

“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”

The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.

About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.

“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.

Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BB)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Beware of scams during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sales event: cybersecurity firm

Published

1 week ago

 on

October 8, 2024

By

 

As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.

In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.

The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”

“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.

“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”

Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.

Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.

In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.

The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.

Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.

“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.

“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.

Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.

Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.

“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.

“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”

Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.

As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.

But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.

Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.

The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version