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Troll Disrupts Conference on Russian Disinformation With ‘Zoom-Bombing’
The event, “Russian Disinformation: Tactics, Influence, and Threats to National Security,” showcased various methods the nation-state allegedly uses to disrupt western societies.
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Tatiana Egorova via Alamy Stock
A hacker on Tuesday managed to briefly commandeer a National Press Club-hosted zoom broadcast featuring Ukrainian officials and others about Russian disinformation -- broadcasting explicit pornographic videos.
The Institute for Democracy and Development (PolitA) and the Coalition Against Disinformation organized the event, featuring Ukrainian officials, religious leaders, cybersecurity experts, and political experts discussing the ongoing and escalating Russian disinformation targeting the West and other parts of the world. An extremely graphic pornographic video with the words “CCP ON TOP” was shown on the main presentation screen for a couple of minutes before event organizers regained control.
One attendee commented in the chat, “the hand of Moscow.” Live attendees at the Washington, D.C. National Press Club were also exposed to the video.
Russia is pouring millions of dollars into a broad disinformation campaign meant to destabilize western governments, stoking partisan fires using fake images and stories attractive to political extremists and conspiracy theorists, the panels said. While this effort has been active for decades, it has gained significant momentum and sophistication in the past several years.
Kateryna Odarchenko, president of PolitA and a political consultant, said Russia’s disinformation attempts are at an all-time high as the US elections draw near and the two-year Ukraine war rages on. “I have a background in election organizing and direct consulting, and we worked in Ukraine, we worked in Georgia, we worked in Bulgaria and with the European Parliament a lot,” she said. “From a practical point of view, we saw that Russian intervention in elections and disinformation is horrible … and it’s very effective.”
Panelists said Russia is targeting religious communities and western governments with operatives using social engineering and active cyberattack campaigns to promote chaos and is particularly active during election cycles, with the US presidential election just days away. Russia is believed to be behind the massive hack of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
‘Zoom-Bombing’
As more and more organizations turned to video chats during the COVID-19 pandemic, the “zoom-bombing” phenomenon gained traction. The term refers to the unwanted takeover of the main presentation screen, sometimes used to display offensive or pornographic images or videos.
While the culprits have ranged from internet trolls to so-called “hacktivists,” nation-state actors may be getting in on the action.
In 2020, a Zoom-bombing attack targeted a US government meeting, according to a blog post by cybersecurity firm Bitdefender. “The FBI issued a stark warning … regarding the use of Zoom and dangers of Zoom-bombing, followed by advice to avoid using the platform for government affairs,” according to the blog.
Zoom in 2022 agreed to a massive $85 million payout for a class-action lawsuit over Zoom-bombings.
The FBI recommends the follow steps to avoid being zoom-bombed:
Do not make meetings or classrooms public. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private: require a meeting password, or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests.
Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people.
Manage screensharing options. In Zoom, change screensharing to “Host Only.”
Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications. In January 2020, Zoom updated their software. In their security update, the teleconference software provider added passwords by default for meetings and disabled the ability to randomly scan for meetings to join.
Lastly, ensure that your organization’s telework policy or guide addresses requirements for physical and information security.
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