Firelands middle school online classes suspended following 'Zoom bombing' incident

SOUTH AMHERST — A Zoom meeting at a Firelands School building was hacked Monday, forcing the building to suspend live online classes. A seventh-grade online class from South Amherst Middle School was hacked, with a person posing as a student joining the meeting displaying pornography on their screen, according to emails sent to parents and disclosed to with The Chronicle-Telegram. The teacher immediately removed that account from the class and livestreamed classes are on hold while the district works to tighten security measures. Students are still completing work through Google Classroom, according to the emails. Superintendent Mike Von Gunten said in an email to The Chronicle-Telegram that the district is working with its technology department and internet providers after the "Zoom bombing" incident. "We are doing everything we can to provide our students a safe learning environment for those families that selected online learning," he wrote. "We continue to be in regular contact with our students and parents while we pursue all options in regards to technology moving forward." Firelands Schools is far from alone in experiencing a "Zoom bombing" incident. In March, the FBI issued a warning about online classroom hijacking during the COVID-19 pandemic — suggesting not making meetings public and limiting screen-sharing options. In May, it warned of child sexual abuse materials being displayed during Zoom meetings. At that time, the agency had received almost 200 reports of incidents involving those materials in the United States and other countries. Locally, the Lorain County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident at Firelands, Capt. Daniel Ashdown confirmed. A report is expected to be available today. The Sheriff's Office handles internet crimes within its jurisdiction, from wire fraud or extortion cases to online threats against schools within its jurisdiction. But if the hack originated out of state or overseas, prosecuting anyone becomes more difficult. As with any internet crime, deputies will need to figure out the IP address used to show the pornography, where that came from and the nature of the content displayed to determine who is responsible and what charges they could face, Ashdown said. "Luckily, most of the schools have good protocols in place," he said. "They've got it set up that as soon as there's a breach they know to shut it down. They do immediate notification to all the students' families that are involved. It's unfortunate it happens." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.