‘Zoom bombers’ hack meeting with child abuse video
DOZENS of wine enthusiasts were left shocked and in tears when an online tasting event hosted by Zoom was hacked by ‘cowardly’ internet vandals who posted a sickening child abuse video.
Police are investigating the attack on an event that was held by Prestwich-based wine merchant Grain To Grape. Zoom, a US-based video-conferencing firm, which has seen a huge rise in popularity since the coronavirus lockdown.
But it has also attracted hackers amid reports that 500,000 Zoom app log-in details have been obtained and put up for sale on the dark web.
The latest in a series of attacks, branded Zoom-bombing, happened at Grape and Grain’s online wine and cheese tasting event at the weekend.
Owners Tom Sneesby, 36 and Barry van Gothen, 40, were hosting a wine-tasting evening from their premises, joined by about 60 or 70 customers on Zoom as well as others on Facebook and Instagram pages.
About 25 minutes into the session a hacker posted the first of a series of vile child abuse videos. Tom and Barry tried in vain to stop the videos and in the end had to abandon Zoom. Tom, from Prestwich, told the M.E.N.: “The thing we had to see, I would rather see somebody shot in the head than see what we had to look at. It’s the most repugnant, the most foul and haunting stuff you can see. That’s why it was chosen. It’s the worst thing you can put in front of normal people.”
He described the act as ‘cowardly and villainous,’ adding that it had left him and others forced to witness the images as ‘in bits.’
The business has been hosting wine-tasting sessions for the last six weeks of lockdown, with customers all over England being sent a bottle or a sample of a wine and cheese to be discussed during the event. Free tickets are given to members of the emergency services. It had sold 180 tickets for the event. Tom apologised to customers and admitted it was ‘naive’ to publish details of the Zoom meeting and the password on social media beforehand. The shop will continue to host the events but will no longer use Zoom and plans to raise money for a children’s charity. Last month the M.E.N. reported how a Stockport support group video meeting for people giving up alcohol was hacked with similar images of child sex abuse footage. Following the latest incident, a spokeswoman for Zoom said: “This incident is truly devastating and appalling and our user policies explicitly prohibit any obscene, indecent, illegal or violent activity or content on the platform. Zoom strongly condemns such behaviour and recently updated several features to help our users more easily protect their meetings. For all users, we have made the Zoom Meeting ID less visible to help prevent unintended sharing and we have added a new Security icon.”
I would rather see somebody shot in the head than see what we had to look at Tom Sneesby