US Fed Reserve Zoom call gets 'hijacked', rogue participant displays pornographic images

A virtual event featuring Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was cancelled on Thursday after a participant 'hijacked' the Zoom video conference by displaying pornographic images. 

Brent Tjarks, executive director of the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), who hosted the event said, “We were a victim of a teleconference or Zoom hijacking and we are trying to understand what we need to do going forward to prevent this from ever happening again. It is an incident we deeply regret.” Tjarks suspects that one of the security measures stopping viewers to hijack a call was set incorrectly.

According to a Reuters reporter on the call, just before the event was to start, a participant with the screen name "Dan" began displaying graphic, pornographic images. Microphones and video were not muted by the organizer upon joining. The event had over 220 participants on the Zoom call before it was terminated.

Zoom, which has come under scrutiny for privacy and security issues, including incidents of "Zoom bombing," strongly condemned the behaviour and said it takes meeting disruptions very seriously. 

In March 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston office issued a warning about Zoom after receiving two reports of unidentified individuals invading school sessions.

Zoom has since introduced major upgrades, including end-to-end encryption for video calls. Despite the upgrade, disruptions can occur during virtual events, and organizers must be vigilant to prevent them.

The Fed said the event was cancelled due to "technical difficulties," and MBCA's roughly 100 members include banks with assets between $10 billion and $100 billion. 

While Fed events are typically highly choreographed and security is usually tight, virtual events pose new challenges, and organizers must be prepared to respond quickly and effectively to prevent disruptions.

(With Agency inputs)

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