Zoom Meeting Hacked

One of our neighbouring authorities has reported that a Zoom conference call, arranged by an external organisation, but attended by some of their staff was hacked. The report read that:

“Hackers were able to access the zoom meeting with the potential of stealing any data that was disclosed in the meeting. The organisers were unable to identify that the hackers were in attendance until they started talking - threatening and abusing the participants. Even though the hackers microphones were eventually muted by the external organisers, the threats and abuse continued on the written chat…the hackers could have recorded the session and there is a possibility of it ending up on social media but there is nothing we can do to stop this.”

Neath Port Talbot guidance has been published (see below) but staff should be aware that where possible MS Teams should be used instead of Zoom. If staff are attending meetings where Zoom is mandated and where sensitive information is likely to be shared, assurance should be sought that the hosting organisation has the relevant control measures in place.