Singapore’s teachers are ditching Zoom after a pair of pervs allegedly crashed a class on the videoconferencing service.
The Southeast Asian nation’s Ministry of Education said it halted the use of Zoom after some “very serious incidents” disrupted the first week of at-home schooling amid a lockdown meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
One parent said her daughter’s geography lesson was disrupted by obscene images and two men asking girls in the class to “flash” themselves, local news outlet CNA reported Thursday.
“As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out,” said Aaron Loh, an official with the ministry’s educational technology division.
The ministry is investigating the breaches and will file a report with police if necessary, according to Loh. Officials will also give teachers security advice such as not sharing meeting links outside of their classes and requiring secure logins, he said.
Singapore’s move comes amid mounting security concerns about Silicon Valley-based Zoom, which has seen its business explode as the coronavirus pandemic forced companies and schools to shift to remote work.
New York City’s Department of Education — the largest public school system in the US — banned teachers from using Zoom for remote classes over concerns about “Zoom-bombers” who invade video chats. Big companies such as SpaceX and Google have also discouraged employees from using the platform because of security worries.
Zoom has been “deeply upset” to hear about incidents like those reported in Singapore, a company spokesperson said. The firm recently changed default settings for education users to enable virtual “waiting rooms” and make sure only meeting hosts can share their screens, according to the spokesperson.
“Zoom strongly condemns such behavior and we encourage users to report any incidents of this kind directly to Zoom so we can take appropriate action,” the Zoom spokesperson said in a statement.
Zoom has also pledged to address security and privacy issues over 90 days in response to the complaints. It also published a blog post last month with advice on how to keep “uninvited guests” out of Zoom meetings.
With Post wires
