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Zoom Communications benefits from coronavirus 1:04
(CNN) - As the Zoom video conferencing app increases in popularity, due to its increased use amid the coronavirus pandemic, US federal officials are now warning of a possible new privacy and security concern called "zoombombing."
The term refers to a form of cyber bullying denounced by some users of the application, who have reported that some of their calls have been intercepted by unidentified people and trolls, who throw hateful language or share disturbing images.
Zoombombing has become so frequent that this week, the FBI released a statement warning people of the threat.
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The FBI received "multiple reports" of video conference calls interrupted by "pornographic images and / or hateful and threatening language," the agency said in its statement.
A Zoom spokesperson told CNN, in an email Thursday, that the company is aware of the recent FBI statement and "appreciates all efforts to raise awareness of the best way to prevent such attacks."
"We are deeply upset to hear about incidents related to this type of attack and strongly condemn that behavior," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The company said March 20 began "actively educating users on how they can protect their meetings and help prevent incidents of harassment."
"We are listening to our user community to help us develop our approach," said the spokesperson.
Incidents in the United States
The Boston FBI Division cited two recent incidents of "zoombombing" in Massachusetts schools.
In late March, the FBI said an unidentified person (s) connected to a high school teacher's online class and yelled profanity, as well as the teacher's home address.
In a separate instance, also in the virtual classroom of a Massachusetts teacher, a person who joined the conference call was seen on video camera showing swastika tattoos, the FBI said.
Similar threats of "zoombombing" have been reported across the country.
In Orange County, Florida, a man entered a virtual class and exposed himself, CNN affiliate WKMG reported.
At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, administrators emailed the university community last week to address class violations online.
"We regret to report that we learned today that some of our Zoom online classes were interrupted by people who used racist and vile language, which disrupted lectures and learning," they wrote in an email, obtained by CNN, the president of USC. , Carol Folt, and the President, Charles Zukoski. "We are taking immediate steps to protect our classes from what is called" zoombombing, "which, unfortunately, is taking place in organizations across the country."
These instances of "zoombombing" occur when Zoom faces scrutiny of its privacy protections, which have been pointed out by users, security researchers, and US authorities.
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Mitigating threats
Eric Yuan, CEO and founder of Zoom, made a post on the company's blog Wednesday to address people's recent security concerns.
In it, he cited the company's plan for the next 90 days, to dedicate "the resources necessary to proactively identify, address and solve problems."
These initiatives, he wrote, include "implementing a feature freeze" and "conducting a comprehensive review with third-party experts and representative users to understand and ensure the security of all of our new consumer use cases," according to the publication.
Yuan also addressed "zoombombing" by referring concerned users to a March 20 blog post, which describes "the protection features that can help prevent this."
"Keep using Zoom responsibly," the blog post reads, after listing tips to help "keep unwanted guests away."
US federal officials urged video conferencing application users to exercise "due diligence and caution" in their cybersecurity efforts to help mitigate these threats.
Both the FBI and Zoom shared a few steps to help protect video conferencing and protect people from potential hackers or trolls.
They recommend users: make their meetings private (Zoom has options to request a password, as well as a waiting room function, to control who is allowed on the call); avoid sharing the meeting link on public online forums; and limit screen sharing to only the host of the call.
- CNN's Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.
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