Ride the Lightning

Law Firm Q&A Session on Zoom Disrupted by Child Porn

August 17, 2020

On August 14, Oklahoma's NBC 4 reported that an Oklahoma City law firm (not named) set up a Q&A session in May which was open to the public.

Someone named "Christine" joined the meeting and began showing a graphic video of a man sexually assaulting a child.

The meeting was halted and Oklahoma City police and Zoom started investigating the incident.

Yes, Zoom bombing again – but also user error. Our guess is that the law firm allowed people to ask questions via video screen sharing. What they could have done is forbidden screen sharing and virtual backgrounds and simply allowed questions via chat. Mind you, people could still ask inappropriate questions! We agree with Zoom's recommendation below. Zoom's webinar solution is much safer for large-scale or public events.

Meanwhile Zoom issued this statement:

"We are deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents, and Zoom strongly condemns such behavior. Given this is a pending investigation, we would like to emphasize what we're doing to fight abuse on our platform more generally. We have recently updated a number of default settings and added features to help hosts more easily access in-meeting security controls, including controlling screen sharing, removing and reporting participants, and locking meetings, among other actions. We have also been educating users on security best practices for setting up their meetings, including recommending that users avoid sharing private meeting links and passwords on websites, social media, or other public forums, and encouraging anyone hosting large-scale or public events to utilize Zoom's webinar solution."

It's certainly no coincidence that "Zoom Training for Lawyers and Using it Securely" is one of our most popular webinars.

Hat tip to Dave Ries.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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