‘Zoombombers’ break in during Board of Ed’s virtual meeting

Image
  • ‘Zoombombers’
Body

TULSA (AP) – An online meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education was disrupted by an intruder or intruders posting racist and vulgar language that was visible to every- one watching.

The incident Thursday was the first “zoombombing’’ of a public body in Oklahoma, the Tulsa World reported. Zoombombing is when people who are not part of a group break into a Zoom meeting to post images, memes or comments.

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said it is a risk public bodies are taking while trying to maintain openness and transparency in government during the coronavirus pandemic. The intruders started posting in the chat function about 25 minutes into the meeting.

The FBI issued a warning in late March about teleconferencing and online classroom hijacking as people meet virtually rather than in person during the pandemic, including reports of people intruding on Zoom meetings and calls with pornography, profanity and hate speech.

During Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Education approved a stopgap measure giving new teachers a temporary, one- year state certification until they can complete their final requirements.