How to Spot a Zoom-bomber BEFORE He Goes Off
Yes, they have a pattern, and here’s what you can do to spot them.
I have had a bit of unfortunate luck of have been attending two online webinars that were Zoom-bombed.
For those of you who still hadn’t heard the term, trolls are joining “public” webinars held over Zoom teleconference and started yelling obscenities or even displaying gore or porn, virtually hijacking a normal public meeting, or even in some cases, disrupting school and scaring small children. This was dubbed Zoom-bombing. It was serious enough that the FBI issued a public warning about it. And for the perpetrators… Zoom-bombing is a Federal crime.
Having been at ground zero of a Zoom-bombing twice, I have noticed a set of commonalities among the Zoom-bombers that bears closer study. With these commonalities, I was able to warn the co-host of the Zoom-bomber before he struck, so that when he did go off, he was only able to get 1 second of air-time before he was summarily booted.
So while hosts enact security measures like lobbies, passwords, and so on, the host should have a co-host monitoring the participant panel and look for the following signs:
An Obviously Fake Name
One of the zoom-bombers used the screenname “Sum Ting Wong”.
If you hadn’t spotted the joke yet, say it out loud. Get it now? It is one part of a pretty infamous prank that embarrassed a TV station in the midst of reporting a tragedy.
But that’s only one part of a Zoom-bomber’s signature.
No Camera Activated
Neither zoom-bomber that interrupted the webinars I attended have their camera on. One was displaying a PROC flag, the other just had a black/blank screen.
While this does not “prove” things one way or another in itself, it adds to an overall pattern.
Near the Front of the Queue
This is a typical Zoom Webinar Screen. Note the “participants row” on top where the remote participants on their webcam are displayed.
Typically, your host and co-host are listed first. Then yourself. The space to watch is just AFTER yourself and the hosts. For example, if you have two staff (host and co-host), and you’re in 3rd, then the position to watch is 4th position on the list. The order is more obvious if you have that row displayed vertically.
The zoom-bomber generally shows up there, right after the hosts and/or yourself. I believe this is because they are repeatedly trying to enable their microphone, despite the host having enabled a global mute lock. I believe Zoom interprets this as a request to speak and moved the participant up the display queue in order to attract the host’s attention. In both Zoom-bombing incidents, the zoom-bomber was observed at that 4th location before he struck. I have not received any confirmation from Zoom whether this is true or not. So call this speculation.
Combine the Signs
So if you spot someone who 1) no camera, just name or picture, 2) a very generic or a joke name, not appropriate for the webinar, and 3) keeps moving up the display queue for no apparent reason, there is a very good chance you may have spotted a zoom-bomber, and you may want to let the host or co-host know via the built-in private chat ASAP.
Conclusion
At the second Zoom-bomb incident, I spotted the Zoom-bomber several minutes into the event, and I let the co-host know. She agreed to keep an eye out on him. And as predicted, when the host opened the mike to questions, he struck. He managed to blurt out about 4 words before the co-host booted him.
So there you have it. Three possible signs of a Zoom-bomber.
Did these tips help you “catch” a Zoom-bomber and saved your meeting? Do you think I was totally wrong? Do you have better tips? Was your own webinar Zoom-bombed? Feel free to comment below.
And happy Zooming in these troubled times.
