“Zoombomb:” the hijacking of a video conference or meeting with the intent to disrupt or harass others, often by sharing offensive or inappropriate content. On April 7, that is exactly what occurred during a Planning and Zoning Department (P&Z) public hearing for the Hamlet project in Saugatuck.
“It’s just very disturbing that people would disrupt the meeting and put effort into causing such a disruption,” P&Z Director Michelle Perillie said. “It was very disturbing and traumatizing to be subjected to that kind of material that you are not wanting to be looking for. Having it be thrust upon you was very disturbing.”
Over 100 Westporters attended the meeting, majority of them waiting for the P&Z to address the Hamlet project. However, the attack occurred during a presentation from John Fallon, the Fairfield County Hunt Club’s attorney. At roughly 6:45 p.m., disturbing images, including violent sexual acts, videos with Nazi insignia and graphic videos of beheadings, appeared in the meeting.
“I can’t describe how awful that was to experience,” one anonymous man said, according to Dan Woog’s 06880 blog. “The P&Z was scrambling to try to take care of the situation, but I left the meeting because it was overwhelming.”
As meeting hosts shut down one video, a second would appear almost instantaneously. P&Z meetings do not typically have a waiting room, so the hackers were able to re-enter under a new name whenever they were kicked out. Thus, commissioners gave the meeting a waiting room and only allowed people who they recognized into the meeting. P&Z Commissioner Michael Cammeyer called the police, who reportedly went to Town Hall to speak with IT staff.
“We’re trying to decide if it’s safe to continue the meeting, or if it needs to be canceled,” Chairman Paul Lebowitz said during this period, according to the Westport Journal.
The primary concern about cancelling the meeting was that Westporters who attended in order to comment on an event on the agenda would then lose their chance to speak. However, Police Chief Foti Koskinas recommended cancellation, and Town Attorney Ira Bloom agreed. At 7:15, they decided to reschedule for a later date.
“People were upset, and they were disturbed about what they saw, so [cancelling the meeting] was probably the best thing,” Perillie said.
Police immediately began investigating. They attempted to do an autopsy of the video to figure out who did this.
“Almost always, these come back to IP addresses that link to a VPN and then go overseas,” Westport police lieutenant Eric Wood said, on account of Shelton Herald. “However, if we get lucky and can identify someone locally, we will work with our prosecutor’s office to discuss the appropriate charges.”
The Hunt Club’s application continued in another online meeting on April 21. This meeting proceeded successfully, with no hackers. However, Hamlet’s public hearing will occur in person, at Town Hall, on April 28. The public hearing will include input from residents.
Following the event, P&Z members spent some time considering how to prevent another attack. Now, they will always use a waiting room for their zoom meetings. Participants will not be allowed to share their screens, and, by default, their microphones and cameras will be off when they enter.
“There is someone targeting our town,” Lebowitz said during the meeting, as reported by Westport Journal. “If they do it once, they can do it again and there is no sense in subjecting us to whatever that was again.”
