What is 'Zoom bombing'? Scientist threatened while defending PhD online.WATCH | Dennis Johnson is helpless to stop an online attack during his doctoral defence ( graphic images and language have been blurred)

Eventually, someone on the call was able to remove the uninvited culprit from the group. Seconds later, pornographic images began appearing all over the shared screen. Then he saw letters spelling out the N-word. then another circle and then I see another shape. It's a penis.' students of colour, specifically black students,' said Johnson, 28, in a Skype interview from Long Beach, Calif. ' As I'm talking about this, I see a circle on my screen. People participating in meetings and lessons via video conference platforms like Zoom can find their screens hijacked by malicious actors who can put words and images on the screen and in the chat box or create havoc with the audio.ĭennis Johnson said he was in the middle of a video conference defending his doctoral dissertation - about the struggles of African Americans in California's education system - when he started seeing profanity appear on the screen. But a growing number of so-called Zoom-bombing incidents is prompting warnings from the FBI and from the victims themselves. Zoom has emerged as an indispensable video conferencing tool for remote work and study as millions of people are forced to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zoom bomber app