New Hampshire鈥檚 Concord High School was hit with a quadruple whammy on the second day of online-only school: Racial slurs were posted on the chat in one virtual classroom. Two others were exposed to pornographic images. And another group of students saw a picture of a fake gun appear during a videoconferencing lesson.
In all four cases, teachers quickly kicked the intruders out of the Zoom conferencing platform. But the incidents were a big headache for teachers, administrators, and perhaps especially, kids.
鈥淢any of the students were like, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 want to have this getting ruined,鈥欌�� said Kaileen Chilauskas, the school鈥檚 assistant principal, who spoke to the impacted classes a few days after the intrusions. Zoom is the only way they can interact with their teachers and continue learning, kids noted.
But such interruptions, known as 鈥淶oombombings鈥� or 鈥淶oom raids鈥� even though they can happen on any video conferencing platform, are becoming an all-too common occurrence, according to dozens of published reports.
For instance, in Hindsdale, Ill., an 8th grader 鈥渕ooned鈥� two high school classrooms and yelled out a racial insult. A high school geometry class in San Antonio was interrupted by someone using the name of a student in the class, and an image of two Ku Klux Klansmen. And in Schuylkill County, Pa., someone interrupted kindergarten orientation, yelled racial slurs, cursed, and threatened children.
Media coverage probably isn鈥檛 capturing the full scope of the problem, said Doug Levin, the founder and president of the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center. He expects that the interruptions are happening in the majority of school districts.
Classrooms around the country have been interrupted by so-called 鈥淶oombombers鈥� or 鈥淶oomraiders,鈥� who shout obscenities, share sexual images, or racist content in the middle of an online lesson. Despite the name, the incidents can take place on any video conferencing platform, not just Zoom.
Here are 10 steps educators and experts say school districts and teachers can take to curb this problem:
1.) Offer teachers professional development on how to block would-be Zoombombers. One district created two, 40-minute videos, each exploring a different online conference platform.
2.) Make sure students are required to have a password to get into virtual classrooms.
3.) Continually change the online credentials for virtual classrooms, and don鈥檛 post them to external websites.
4.) Have a waiting room for each videoconferencing lesson. Teachers should only 鈥渓et in鈥� students who are on their roster.
5.) Don鈥檛 admit a student to a virtual classroom if someone under their name is already in class. That person could be an impostor.
6.) Teachers should show up to the online classroom first. That way, students are not there unsupervised.
7.) Ensure that only the teacher can share the screen, unless there鈥檚 a reason for students to share their screens.
8.) Disable students鈥� ability to transfer files back-and-forth in class.
9.) Disable chat unless you are using it for a clear reason.
10.) Make sure students understand the rules of a virtual classroom, just like they would in a brick-and-mortar one.
Students will be in an online class, all working together. Then, suddenly, someone 鈥渟tarts streaming porn, or all of this racially charged stuff,鈥� Levin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a stranger walked off the street and started stripping and yelling at the kids. That鈥檚 essentially what鈥檚 happening online.鈥�
It鈥檚 often unclear if kids in the school are behind these incidents or whether it is someone from the outside, who may have gotten passcodes from students, off of a school website, or just guesswork, educators said.
Complicating matters: Some people, presumably students, are inviting 鈥淶oombombers鈥� in posts on social media platforms, including Twitter and TikTok, using hashtags like #zoomraid.
鈥淩aid this math class,鈥� one tweet read, giving a class time, meeting credentials, and encouraging would-be disrupters to 鈥渦se a realistic name.鈥� Another urged, 鈥淩aid my civics class be racist.鈥� One user openly wondered if teachers would be able to tell who gave away class credentials.
What Can Educators Do?
So what can teachers and districts leaders do about these interruptions?
Professional development is key. North Carolina鈥檚 Winston-Salem/Forsyth created two, 40-minute long instructional videos for staff, one for Microsoft Teams and another for Zoom.
The videos 鈥渟how teachers click-by-click the best way to set up their environment,鈥� said Kevin Sherrill, the district鈥檚 assistant superintendent for technology. 鈥淲e鈥檙e encouraging teachers to educate themselves. We have 500 teachers, and we can鈥檛 be with them every minute, so they just have to learn. It鈥檚 not an easy task.鈥�
The videos embrace best practices, including ensuring the online conference room is set up so participants need a password to get in, and that there鈥檚 a waiting room.
Teachers should be careful in figuring out who can come in from that waiting room, making sure the same kid isn鈥檛 trying to enter the class twice. One of the entrants might not be the real student.
鈥淚 think when they are impersonating the name of an actual student that makes it much tougher for teachers,鈥� said Pam McLeod, director of tech and information security officer for the Concord school district. 鈥淪ome folks were using a name of someone who might already be in class.鈥�
She also suggested that teachers continually change the credentials of their online conference, to make it harder for students to share them with would-be bombers.
Another tip: Don鈥檛 post links to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other conferencing platforms to external websites, Sherrill said. That appeared to lead to interruptions in his district.
What鈥檚 more, teachers鈥攚ho are typically the 鈥渉ost鈥� of the conference鈥攕hould be able to show up to class first and let students through the virtual door. That way, kids can鈥檛 do disruptive things in the room while they are unsupervised, waiting for class to start, suggested Amy McLaughlin, the director of the cybersecurity project at the Consortium for School Networking.
鈥楾ake It Really Slow鈥�
Educators might also want to hold off before trying to use many of the features of conferencing platforms to limit opportunities for the system to be compromised.
Teachers should consider 鈥渘ot trying to do everything that your platform offers you in the first day of class,鈥� Chilauskas said. 鈥淭eachers get enthusiastic about every platform that鈥檚 out there. You鈥檝e got to take it really slow before you give them these options, the chat function, polls that you can have the kids take, kids ability to mute and unmute themselves.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, teachers鈥� aides can help monitor the technical aspects of videoconferencing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to oversee 30 spaces in a Zoom call,鈥� Chilauskas said. 鈥淓ven just having that extra adult support is really helpful.鈥� She also encourages students to keep their cameras on so that the teacher can see that it is really them, and not a possible impostor.
McLaughlin noted that conferencing platforms can also control screen sharing so that only the 鈥渉ost鈥� (teacher) can share. That makes it tougher for hackers, or students, to flood the screen with inappropriate images or video. The set-up can be changed if a teacher needs students to be able to share their screens for educational purposes, such as a presentation.
And she recommends disabling students鈥� ability to transfer files back-and-forth in the classroom, which she likened to 鈥減assing notes鈥� in class.
In the same vein, teachers should have clear expectations around the chat function in their mobile conferencing platforms and may want to disable it at times. Teachers should not allow students to 鈥渉ave a back-channel chat conversation because that鈥檚 like whispering鈥� in class, McLaughlin said.
鈥楾hat Teachable Moment鈥�
It is very important for students to understand the rules of a virtual classroom, just like they would a brick-and-mortar one, McLaughlin said.
Some suggestions: Require students to have their name on display, so the teacher knows who they are. Make it clear that they are not allowed to invite outside members to class. And let students know that if they behave badly, they can be asked to leave the conference room, just like they would a regular classroom. Some school districts have taken formal disciplinary鈥搊r even legal鈥揳ction against students who have disrupted class.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just assume that students are all of a sudden鈥� going to understand those things intuitively, McLaughlin said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e gone from in-person to online [instruction] and don鈥檛 know what the rules are.鈥�
But despite educators鈥� best efforts, Zoombombers can still sometimes get into classes. So what should educators do if that happens?
Let parents know right away, said Bernard Watson, the director of media relations for the 177,000-student Gwinnett School District outside Atlanta. The district also does not treat all incidents equally. Some are referred for disciplinary action鈥攆or instance, if a student is yelling or cursing at the teacher. But others鈥攊ncluding those involving behavior such as displays of nudity鈥攎ight be referred to local law enforcement. So far, Gwinnett has had seven such instances since the start of the school year, Watson said.
Talk to students about the incident, Chilauskas suggested. After Concord鈥檚 four Zoombombing incidents in a single day, she sent an email to parents and then followed up with the classes later in the week. The students were understandably upset, Chilauskas said. One girl worried someone could enter a class under her name and disrupt it. 鈥淚 did assure her that people are not as anonymous as they think,鈥� Chilauskas said.
Giving students a chance to discuss what happened is the right call, McLaughlin said. She suggested teachers tell students, 鈥溾�楲et鈥檚 talk about why this was inappropriate. Let鈥檚 talk about why this was harmful.鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭o my mind, this really presents that teachable moment.鈥�
