Police cannot find a suspect who allegedly “zoom-bombed” an online RISE training event for schools with “highly inappropriate” material.
Academy trust REAch2 strengthened security settings after an intruder shared offensive content at an event last month.
A spokesperson said they believed it was “zoom-bombed”, an incident where an internet troll gains access and shows lewd images.
This type of intrusion surged during an increase in the use of video calls in the Covid pandemic.
REAch2 hosted a series of online training sessions for the government’s RISE school improvement programme. The events feature academy trust leaders and training organisations presenting on their topics of expertise.
“Highly inappropriate material” was shared by “someone who was not part of the session”, the spokesperson added. It is understood that adult content appeared on screen.
The session was then closed to all participants, with the incident reported to police.
Staffordshire Police said it was made aware of a malicious communications incident.
A spokesperson added: “We provided advice to try to prevent similar incidents like this happening in the future. It hasn’t been possible to identify a suspect.”
REAch2 said additional safeguards “including tighter access controls and enhanced moderation tools, are in place to prevent this from happening again.
“We recognise that some participants may have found the content distressing or offensive and we are sorry for the impact this has had.”
