Oklahoma City U. Virtual Graduation ‘Zoom Bombed’ by Racist Heckler

Oklahoma City University’s virtual graduation ceremony was interrupted over the weekend by a hacker that replaced the broadcast with racist images. “Zoom bombing,” a term which was popularized at the outset of the Chinese virus pandemic, is an unwanted disruption to a Zoom meeting by an intruder who is able to take control of a meeting.

According to a report by TIME, Oklahoma City University’s virtual graduation ceremony was disrupted on Saturday by a hacker that displayed racist images on the screen. The report claims that the hacker replaced the commencement broadcast with a swastika and a racial slur.

More than 650 members of the Oklahoma City University community were watching the broadcast when the hacker displayed the images. The “Zoom bombing” incident reportedly occurred at the end of the ceremony. The hacker’s images appeared on the screen just as the names of this year’s graduates began to scroll down the screen.

In a statement, university President Martha Burger said that she was “heartbroken” over the disruption to the graduation ceremony.  “We are heartbroken and outraged at the hate-filled attack that occurred at the end of our virtual graduation celebration today,” Burger wrote in a statement. “During a time that should have been focused on recognizing our graduating students, an unknown source was able to bypass the system and display racist and offensive language.”

At the beginning of April, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan apologized for the numerous security flaws in the virtual meeting act, including those that allow zoom bombing to occur. Yuan promised to devote is company’s resources to fixing security problems, however this incident proves the company, whose programming was primary done by contractors in China, has a long way to go.

Breitbart News reported in April that hackers were selling a Zoom exploit for $500,000 that would allow hackers to obtain access to user accounts and spy on private calls.

Breitbart News published a guide in April that explains how adjusting four software settings can help users avoid “Zoom bombing” attacks during their virtual meetings.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more campus updates.