Coronavirus: Singapore stops schools using Zoom app after ‘serious incidents’ involving security breaches

The education ministry is investigating two incidents, one which involved obscene images appearing on screens and lewd comments heard during a geography lesson

The videoconferencing tool was adopted by teachers as the country moved into a lockdown that has seen schools move to home-based learning

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As the pandemic shuts schools in many places, some schools have been using the Zoom app to deliver online lessons. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:45pm, 10 Apr 2020Updated: 11:27pm, 10 Apr 2020

Singapore has suspended the use of videoconferencing tool Zoom by teachers, its education ministry said on Friday, after “very serious incidents” occurred in the first week of a coronavirus lockdown that has seen schools move to home-based learning.

One of the incidents involved obscene images appearing on screens and strange men making lewd comments during the streaming of a geography lesson with teenage girls, according to local media reports.

Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM.O has been plagued with safety and privacy concerns about its conferencing app which has seen a surge in usage as offices and schools around the world shut to try to curb coronavirus infections.

“These are very serious incidents. MOE (Ministry of Education) is currently investigating both breaches and will lodge a police report if warranted,” said Aaron Loh of the ministry’s educational technology division, without detailing the incidents. “As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out.”

Loh said that they would further advise teachers on security protocols such as requiring secure logins and not sharing the meeting link beyond the students in the class.

A US teacher uses Zoom to tutor her students on April 1, 2020. Photo: AFP

Taiwan and Germany have already put restrictions on Zoom’s use, while Alphabet Inc’s Google banned the desktop version of Zoom from corporate laptops on Wednesday. The company also faces a class-action lawsuit.