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DA District Administration
How to Block ‘Zoom Bombing’ and protect student privacy online
Use passwords and other strategies to defend against online class hackers
By: Matt Zalaznick
April 7, 2020
Online classes at several schools have been invaded by “Zoom bombing,”
an ugly new activity in which hackers disrupt virtual sessions to
display pornography, racism and other disturbing images.
These cyberattacks late last week drove one middle school in Palm Beach
County, Florida, to temporarily halt all live classes, The Palm Beach
Post reported.
In Utah, hackers took over an elementary school session of about 40
students, and “flashed” pornographic photos, The Salt Lake Tribune
reported.
In Massachusetts, a hacker interrupted a school Zoom meeting to display
swastika tattoos and, in another incident, trolls yelled profanity and
shouted the teacher’s home address when they infiltrated a high school
Zoom session, the FBI reported.
The threatening actions taken by Zoom-bombers “appear to be an
organized effort among right-wing hate groups and similar dangerous
actors,” says Leah Plunkett, an associate dean and associate professor
at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law.
“It is possible that a school could face legal consequences for
conducting a virtual classroom in which attackers display pornographic,
racist, or other hateful content and words to students,” says Plunkett,
who is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for
Internet & Society at Harvard University.
At least two state attorneys general are now investigating Zoom’s
privacy practices to understand fully how the break-ins are occurring
while some K-12 schools and other institutions are banning Zoom to
safeguard students, Plunkett says.
To block the attacks, instructors should:
Set a password for every Zoom session.
Use meeting settings to prohibit screen-sharing by anyone other than the instructor hosting the meeting.
Turn off video for participants upon entry.
Lock the meeting right after it starts to ensure that only authorized participants are in and remain in.
After the Zoom bombings in Massachusetts, the FBI Boston office also
released some tips for shutting out hackers. It recommended:
Do not make meetings public by requiring a password or using the waiting room feature to control the admittance of guests
Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on publicly
available social media post. Provide the link directly to invited
participants.
Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications.
Protecting student privacy online
Along with Zoom bombing, protecting student privacy is another major
cybersecurity concern that educators face in the switch to online
learning.
“Privacy with educational technology has been a longstanding
challenge, and we’re at a point that it is now becoming an existential
need for schools to be able to function,” Plunkett says.
During the quick shift to online classes, educators should be wary of
adopting new learning software that hasn’t yet been vetted by district
technologists or legal counsel.
That’s because the user agreement a teacher may be tempted to click to
accept probably doesn’t offer adequate protection of students’ personal
information, and it might not comply with FERPA and other privacy laws,
Plunkett says.
At the same time, many administrators want teachers to be innovative by finding new ed tech tools for online learning.
To support teachers, district leaders should tap their IT teams or
legal advisors to centralize the process of selecting and vetting the
privacy components of new software.
“Don’t just let the floodgates open,” Plunkett says. “You can say
to teachers, ‘Do whatever’s best for your class, but you have to do it
through an approved platform.'”
Districts should also provide students and parents with a set of
student privacy best practices, such as turning and not recording video
during online class sessions.
“Student privacy laws are challenging even for legal experts,” Plunkett
says. “And in a time of crisis, it’s not realistic to expect teachers
to become the experts. Put some guardrails in place—frontline classroom
teachers are going to be looking for resources and you don’t want to
have them inadvertently use a resource that is not privacy protected.”
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