[Neologism Dictionary] Zoombombing - Video Conference Intrusion

A meeting in progress using the video conferencing platform Zoom, disrupted by an uninvited guest causing trouble. Photo by twitter @exitpost

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Amid the global social distancing measures due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), uninvited guests appeared during an online service at a Jewish synagogue in the UK. About 30 unfamiliar guests took over the chat room while the rabbi was engrossed in his sermon, continuing with racist and religiously derogatory remarks before soon disappearing. Kara Swisher, a New York Times columnist who hosted a video forum on the challenges faced by female tech entrepreneurs, also had to stop the event just 15 minutes after it began due to an uninvited guest’s intrusion. While she was speaking via video chat, the intruder shared a pornographic video in full screen, and unable to stop the video, Swisher eventually ended the chat. Meanwhile, Dennis Johnson, a doctoral student at California State University, also experienced an uninvited guest crashing his doctoral dissertation defense held via video conference, playing an audio file containing images of male genitalia and racist remarks, forcing a rushed conclusion to the defense.

‘Zoombombing’ is a compound word combining Zoom, the American video conferencing platform, and bombing, meaning an uninvited third party entering a video meeting or remote class to disrupt it. With the spread of COVID-19 increasing demand for remote work, online classes, and video meetings, Zoom’s daily users surpassed 200 million last month. However, when it was revealed by the University of Toronto’s research center that some of Zoom’s data passed through Chinese servers along with its vulnerable security system, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) urged users to “set meetings to private or password-protected and never set them to public” when using Zoom’s video conferencing features. As cases of users suffering from Zoombombing surged, the New York State Attorney General’s office launched an investigation into Zoom’s security system, and governments worldwide have issued bans on Zoom usage. In response, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan tweeted on the 30th of last month, “We are well aware of the hacking incidents occurring on Zoom and will strengthen our security policies going forward,” adding, “We will also actively cooperate with the New York Attorney General’s investigation,” attempting to mitigate the criticism, but the voices of criticism have not easily subsided. An IT security industry insider advised, “It is recommended to use platforms with more robust security.”

Example

A: Did the book club go well yesterday? It must have been more fun since it was on a video call.
B: Oh, don’t even mention it. The club leader didn’t set a password and made the meeting public, so it was chaos.
A: Huh? What kind of chaos?
B: Strange people came in, spammed the chat room, shared adult photos... it was horrible.
A: Wow, you totally got Zoombombed. That’s why you have to lock your house door, and also set a password for meetings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.