A South African Minister and members of society who had tuned in to a video conference got the shock of their lives when pornography was displayed instead.
Minister for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was supposed to host a video conference on the effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable members of society using the platform Zoom. However, social misfits and hackers hacked the meeting and displayed pornography during the webinar instead.
According to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, the video conference had been made public to ensure the participation of more people and hackers took advantage of this. Shalen Gajadhar from the Department told, Eye Witness News,
“We would like to unreservedly apologise for the incident where we had unsavoury characters getting into the scheduled Zoom meeting and have shared nude images and propaganda. About 400 people had indicated interest to join the meeting and we couldn’t vet them because we had received requests just prior to the meeting.”
The Department also apologised for the embarrassing incident. In a series, if posts on Twitter, the Department said,
We wish to apologize for the meeting being hijacked by hackers. Yet another example of technology-assisted assault. We have reconvened the meeting in a more private setting. We hope to share a recording of the meeting soon.
…Really shocking. We are all angry but cannot this to derail this meeting. We have inboxed you the new meeting details.
…We are taking steps to ensure this never happens again. We can only apologise and state that this is what women must put up with every day. It was a disgusting attempt to derail a very important meeting. We intend to hold more sessions in future
Dept of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities@DWYPD_ZAWe wish to apologize for the meeting being hijacked by hackers. Yet another example of technology assisted assault. We have reconvened the meeting in a more private setting. We hope to share a recording of the meeting soon.
South Africans advised the government to stop using Zoom for video conferencing and webinars arguing that it is not secure. Below are some responses from concerned citizens.
Stop using Zoom. It has been reported everywhere in the world about its lack of security measures. It is not safe.
Dept of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities@DWYPD_ZAWe wish to apologize for the meeting being hijacked by hackers. Yet another example of technology assisted assault. We have reconvened the meeting in a more private setting. We hope to share a recording of the meeting soon.
Buli@BuliTMStop using Zoom. It has been reported everywhere in the world about its lack of security measures. It is not safe.
Please never use zoom for your virtual meetings, it’s not secure.
Dept of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities@DWYPD_ZAWe wish to apologize for the meeting being hijacked by hackers. Yet another example of technology assisted assault. We have reconvened the meeting in a more private setting. We hope to share a recording of the meeting soon.
@Mandla@Mandla8210Please never use zoom for your virtual meetings, it’s not secure.
Wouldn’t have happened if @MicrosoftTeams was being used. Why on earth organizations keep insisting on using Zoom is beyond me.
Dept of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities@DWYPD_ZAWe wish to apologize for the meeting being hijacked by hackers. Yet another example of technology assisted assault. We have reconvened the meeting in a more private setting. We hope to share a recording of the meeting soon.
Adrian Mudzwiti@BloccPrinceWouldn’t have happened if @MicrosoftTeams was being used. Why on earth organizations keep insisting on using Zoom is beyond me.
