Kolkata: Online class disruption plaints pour in; cops, experts stress cyber security dos and don’ts | Kolkata News
KOLKATA: The city police are probing several instances of online classes and webinars being disrupted by obscene messages posted by intruders. The latest complaint was from an education institute in central Kolkata, which claimed unidentified people had infiltrated a webinar and had posted objectionable photographs, forcing its abrupt end. The webinar was being attended by 180 students.
"These complaints have been coming to us for the past several months. Each case is being probed," said DC (cyber) Bidisha Kalita.
The investigation is time consuming as login details have to be collected and then pursued with each cloud-based video communications app company on whose platform the alleged hackings took place. In one case, a school located in the peripheral areas of north Kolkata expelled a boy for harassing a fellow student, a girl, during an online class.
Cyber experts and cops have asked teachers to follow basic rules to avoid intrusion by outsiders. As a first step, they advised, people should avoid sharing links to classes or webinars in a public domain. The administrator who lets in students or attendees also needs to be vigilant to stop any outsider from entering.
Using an ID specific to each class is another way to stop intrusions. Activating the waiting room feat-ures helps the teacher take control. Disabling the option that lets students join the class before the teacher will help further.
"It would be great to disable screen-sharing among students who are non-hosts. Once the teacher disables the remote control function, file transferring, auto save chat features and annotations, it will strengthen the cybersecurity of the online class. The teacher must lock the virtual class against outsiders. Once the class starts, taking small cyber-hygiene precautions can help to make online classes far more secure from potential attacks by hackers," said an expert.
Cyber expert and special public prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee suggested the use of an ombudsman who is technically qualified to catch the perpetrator or, at least, stop the misuse of the online forum.
Pavan Duggal, advocate and cyber law expert, said the solution lay in adopting cybersecurity as a way of life for teachers and students. "The realization that hackers are trying to get into classes is the starting point of a journey of self-discovery of basic cyber hygiene habits," he said.
"These complaints have been coming to us for the past several months. Each case is being probed," said DC (cyber) Bidisha Kalita.
The investigation is time consuming as login details have to be collected and then pursued with each cloud-based video communications app company on whose platform the alleged hackings took place. In one case, a school located in the peripheral areas of north Kolkata expelled a boy for harassing a fellow student, a girl, during an online class.
Cyber experts and cops have asked teachers to follow basic rules to avoid intrusion by outsiders. As a first step, they advised, people should avoid sharing links to classes or webinars in a public domain. The administrator who lets in students or attendees also needs to be vigilant to stop any outsider from entering.
Using an ID specific to each class is another way to stop intrusions. Activating the waiting room feat-ures helps the teacher take control. Disabling the option that lets students join the class before the teacher will help further.
"It would be great to disable screen-sharing among students who are non-hosts. Once the teacher disables the remote control function, file transferring, auto save chat features and annotations, it will strengthen the cybersecurity of the online class. The teacher must lock the virtual class against outsiders. Once the class starts, taking small cyber-hygiene precautions can help to make online classes far more secure from potential attacks by hackers," said an expert.
Cyber expert and special public prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee suggested the use of an ombudsman who is technically qualified to catch the perpetrator or, at least, stop the misuse of the online forum.
Pavan Duggal, advocate and cyber law expert, said the solution lay in adopting cybersecurity as a way of life for teachers and students. "The realization that hackers are trying to get into classes is the starting point of a journey of self-discovery of basic cyber hygiene habits," he said.
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