Unprecedented 'Online School Opening' from the 9th
Ministry of Education Recommends Using Zoom and Other Video Class Systems
However, Frequent Cases of Hacking and Pornographic Attacks via Zoom
Ministry of Science and ICT Begins Intensive Monitoring
Security Notices and Public Guidance to be Provided if Necessary
On the 30th, ahead of the government's announcement regarding the opening of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, a classroom at Yeongpung Elementary School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was empty. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Amid the unprecedented 'online school opening' scheduled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the Ministry of Science and ICT is stepping up focused monitoring against hacking of video class systems. Starting from the 9th, a significant number of elementary, middle, and high schools in Korea plan to use Zoom Video Communications' 'Zoom' as their video class system, raising concerns about misuse such as pornographic attacks.
On the 3rd, a Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, "We recognize the high risk of Zoom hacking and are conducting focused monitoring," adding, "If necessary, we plan to issue security notices and provide public guidance."
The security vulnerabilities identified by the industry and government regarding Zoom currently include ▲personal information transmission ▲forced invitations ▲unauthorized hacker intrusion. In response, Zoom has issued recommendations such as installing security patches, setting links to private, and enabling password protection. A Ministry of Science and ICT official said, "Apart from Zoom's recommendations, there may be issues like smishing or malware impersonating Zoom, so we also plan to closely monitor these." The Ministry plans to increase monitoring levels together with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) if new issues arise beyond the identified security vulnerabilities.
On the 30th, ahead of the government's announcement regarding the opening of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, a classroom at Yeongpung Elementary School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was empty. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
Meanwhile, 'Zoom,' widely used in the United States, allows easy creation of chat rooms with over 100 participants at once and convenient sharing of chat room addresses, leading to explosive growth in usage after COVID-19. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan explained that daily users, which were around 10 million in December last year, increased to up to 200 million in March.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education also recommended using Zoom, including systems from Naver, Google, and MS, for online school opening classes. However, recently, hacking cases have increased to the extent that a new term 'Zoom bombing' has emerged. Zoom bombing refers to the phenomenon of disrupting classes or meetings by displaying pornographic or hateful videos and leaking users' personal information. Zoom has decided to halt all general development work for the next 90 days and focus on cybersecurity and personal information protection efforts.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
