Lee faculty and staff work to prevent ‘Zoombombings’
Photo by Sydney Pressley
Since a majority of colleges and universities have transitioned to the online meeting platform Zoom, there have been an abundance of internet trolls joining classes in what is being referred to as “Zoombombing.” These disruptions often include obscene content shown through Zoom’s chat and screen share features.
The attacks made headlines over the past few weeks, most recently with the news that New York City schools have terminated Zoom interactions and transitioned to Microsoft Teams after experiencing privacy issues within the platform.
Since the initial adjustment to online learning, some Lee faculty and students have become victims of Zoombombings, causing a shift in how they deal with class meetings.
Professor of English Dr. Kevin Brown said his class experienced Zoombombing when dividing his students into breakout groups.
“I did have a Zoombombing incident, though it was thankfully brief,” Brown said. “The troll joined the class just as I was putting the class into breakout groups, so he couldn’t share with the entire class.”
Once he learned of the unwelcome attendee, Brown quickly began locking the class meetings to prevent any new participants from joining.
“I talked with the class about it and started locking the class after that,” Brown said. “I didn’t originally have the capability to prevent others from sharing their screens, as I needed to update Zoom, but I now default to lock sharing. Since then, I haven’t had any problems.”
In an April 6 email, Director of Information Technology Operations Chris Golden warned students of dangerous link distribution and precautions they should take regarding Zoom chat.
“Students, if you are sharing the links to your classes on the internet, can I point out that you are paying for these courses? Your classmates are paying for these courses,” Golden wrote. “The other concern is clicking on links in chat … We don’t click on random links around here, and you shouldn’t do it while you are in your bunker either. That’s how you get viruses, and we all are trying to stay clear of that right now.”
Golden also assured recipients that IT was monitoring Zoom feedback in case other options need to be explored.
“Zoom is really big right now, and because of that they are a big target,” Golden wrote. “My team and I are keeping a close eye on this, and if we feel like Zoom is a problem, I’ll ring the bell.”
Sophomore Human Development major Jacquelinn Gasdorf said that while she knows Lee is doing all they can in this situation, this type of platform makes preventatives harder to establish.
“I think Lee is working as hard as they can to continue to make sure we are safe internet-wise,” Gasdorf said. “One thing that does concern me about Zoombombings is that [students] aren’t on campus. If something were to happen, it’s not as easy to get the normal help we usually receive from IT.”
For immediate questions or concerns regarding Zoom safety, email the Help Desk at helpdesk@leeuniversity.edu.
