JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (NewsNation) — An investigation is underway after hackers interrupted a Zoom meeting between parents and educators at Columbine High School and made several threats.
The Zoom meeting took place Tuesday evening. It was meant to update parents on how remote learning would work for the upcoming school year.
The meeting was not password protected, which allowed for the hackers to easily sneak in, NewsNation affiliate KDVR reports.
Images of Nazi soldiers and people being beheaded started popping up on the screen.
“My youngest son was in the background and he got terrified. He got sick to his stomach,” said a parent, who has a son in the ninth grade at Columbine High School. She declined to provide her name to KDVR to protect the identity of her son.
The hackers then rattled off several threats, including one that said, “Going to shoot your kid in the 2020 Columbine remake!”
“I’m not sending my son to school,” the parent said. “I would like him to continue online through Columbine, but as far as sending him in person – that’s a big threat to me.”
Deputies released a statement saying, “Columbine receives threats from sick individuals throughout the school year, so unfortunately, it is something the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deals with regularly. This case will be investigated to the fullest to find out who did this.”
On Wednesday, school administrators emailed the parents who were in the Zoom to apologize for what had happened
“This unfortunate and hateful display does not in any way suggest a breach or compromise to the security we have in place for our virtual learning systems. It’s unfortunate that these ‘bad actors’ took such heinous advantage of what was intended to be an opportunity for family engagement around the start of school details for the Columbine High School community,” said Tammy Schiff, chief communications officer with Jeffco Public Schools.
The school also said it sent a fresh Zoom link to parents directly after the hack; this time, it was password protected.
