Zoom to Soon Allow Users to Report Zoombombers

Zoombombing incidents have become a headache for many as they connect with colleagues and friends on Zoom.

CEO of Zoom Video Communications Eric Yuan in New York, US

Zoom, the widely used video conferencing service, has been in the news for Zoombombing. Zoombombing is a recently coined term for incidents when random strangers pop up in non-secure Zoom meetings and harass the users. The company seems to be trying to hit back at the trolls who hijack the zoom meetings to cause chaos. It is adding a new way for the users to report such trolls. Through a new button, zoom meeting participants will be able to let Zoom know whenever Zoombombing occurs. The company is hoping it will help in tracing the trolls.

According to a report by PC Mag, the company was scheduled to add the "report a user to Zoom" button on Sunday but later postponed the release. Those who host a Zoom meeting will soon be able to see and use the button on their devices. The host will need to go to the “Security” icon on the bottom and click “Report” when an attacker tries some mischief.

“Account owners and admins can now enable a setting to allow the host to report participants to Zoom. This feature will generate a report which will be sent to the Zoom Trust and Safety team to evaluate any misuse of the platform and block a user if necessary. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level and can be locked at the group or account level,” Zoom said on its support page.

The new update will be coming out on April 26.

Zoombombing incidents have been under the scanner of the US law enforcement agency Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). It had recommended that Zoom users make all meetings private and avoid screen sharing. With a massive jump in the number of Zoom users, lots of cases of Zoombombing have been reported by people. Many have been sharing their experiences on Twitter using #zoombombed. Businesses, journalists, executives have all been dealing with intruders on the video-conference service. Singapore even had to suspend the use of Zoom by teachers in the city-state due to incidents where obscene images appeared on the screen when students were taking lessons.