District officials are investigating the “Zoom-bombing” of a recent Allegheny Valley School Board meeting via the Zoom internet platform.
During the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing platforms such as Zoom have gained popularity with everyone — including hackers.
Known as Zoom-bombing, people with fake identities enter virtual public meetings to disrupt them by displaying pornography or using inappropriate language or racial slurs.
Allegheny Valley’s school board meeting on Tuesday was hit with all three.
Officials said pornography appeared briefly on a video screen with other participants. The district quickly changed the screen and locked virtual participants’ images. Officials did not detail what was shown.
Then another virtual meeting participant shouted vulgar language causing the district officials to mute all virtual participants’ comments. They also shut down a chatboard during the meeting where racial slurs appeared.
However, the incidents did not stop the 2.5 -hours-plus school board meeting. Eventually, participants were allowed to comment but only for short periods of time.
A May 20 Leechburg Area School Board meeting shut down after someone displayed pornographic images during their virtual meeting.
“The challenges are at the public meetings where anyone who wants to attend can,” said Allegheny Valley Superintendent Patrick Graczyk.
There were a few hundred people listening in on Allegheny Valley’s special school board meeting as the district works on its reopening plans.
Graczyk made it a point to advertise the meeting to parents for them to attend virtually.
Someone at the meeting reported the Zoom-bombing to the district’s anonymous reporting system, which alerted the school police officer, who is investigating, Graczyk said.
The FBI is investigating at least two such incidents of sexual abuse pornographic images during virtual meetings in the region, although details are not being released, said Catherine Policicchio, an FBI spokeswoman in Pittsburgh.
Nationally, the FBI received about 200 reports of incidents “throughout the United States and in other countries in which a Zoom participant was able to broadcast a video depicting child sexual abuse material.”
