When the zoom-intruders or ‘Zoom Bombers’ hit, they hit hard! At a recovery meeting, it can feel like a violation of our vulnerable selves. It is important to have strategies in place to mitigate the danger, and to safeguard the interest of all those in attendance. We have collated some useful available resources from our friends at OA Foot Steps Virtual Intergroup and directly from Zoom to help navigate these often uncomfortable emergency situations, and to lock them down as quickly as possible to ensure our meetings remain safe and secure.
WHAT ARE ZOOM-INTRUDERS & HOW DO THEY WORK? These are normally a swarm of people that come in and highjack a meeting with undesirable behaviours, such as: pornographic words and images, racial slurs, abusive comments, and insults. OA Foot Steps have determined that internet ‘Zoom-Intruders’ usually send a few scouts (2-5) ahead into a meeting. They come in to see what security features are in place. They will test the system to see what is available to them. If the meeting is not protected, they will then call in their friends. Anywhere from 10-15 more zoom-intruders can then storm in all at once to cause as much havoc as they possibly can. They have also ascertained that if we take away their ‘toys’, or their ability to cause disruptions at a meeting, they get bored and move along. Once our meetings were locked down and monitored, the attacks seemed to dissipate right away.
A useful article on this can be read here at ZDNET (PLEASE NOTE: simply for additional guidelines and information, this is NOT OA endorsed or approved)