Salt Lake police investigating after Zoom class is hacked, displays pornographic images
Nov 24, 2020, 11:54 AM | Updated: Dec 30, 2022, 11:22 am
(PHOTO: CNN)
SALT LAKE CITY– Salt Lake City police are investigating after a middle school Zoom class was hacked, showing pornographic images.
“Zoom bombing”
The alleged incident happened on Oct. 26 in a Clayton Middle School 7th and 8th-grade language arts/history class. Cops said students joined the class using a link provided to them, although an unknown individual was able to join the virtual class.
The hacker changed their Zoom background screen to pictures of pornographic male genitalia and started yelling derogatory phrases. At that time, the teacher immediately ended the session and kicked all the students out.
Authorities said the teacher then restarted the meeting and had each student request entrance individually. The teacher reportedly went through each attendee, carefully accepting each one back into the meeting.
The teacher then ended the class for the day.
Tracking the pornographic Zoom hack
Cops say the IP address used by the hacker was traced to California, although detectives remain unsure if the address was being “spoofed,” so that it appeared like it was coming from somewhere else. They said no arrests have been made at this time.
“This person posed as a student to gain admittance to the class and disrupted the lesson with pornographic images and racial slurs,” according to the district. “Because we have so many participants involved in our meetings, it may be impossible to completely eliminate the risk of unauthorized access. However, we can make sure we take every step within our power to keep our students safe during remote learning.”