Chatham-Kent police are investigating a disturbing hack during a Zoom meeting that was held to discuss the upcoming May 16 Miracle food drive in the area.
CKPS Public Information Officer Constable Renee Cowell said police received information Thursday night that a disturbing child pornography video was shown during the meeting.
One of the meeting's organizers, James Rasmussen, said over 240 people were on the call to plan the event had to endure a "grotesque act of hacking."
"All organizers of this event in our wildest dreams never imagined this would happen and we acknowledge that this was extremely difficult for those that were on the call," Rasmussen said.
Police Chief Gary Conn assured the group that police will get to the bottom of this.
"Chatham-Kent Police Services will concentrate all resources to identify perpetrators responsible and hold them accountable and responsible for this heinous crime," the chief said.
Cowell said the Criminal Investigations Branch and Internet Child Exploitation Unit have taken over the investigation.
"Officers are concerned for the safety of those in the video and are working with federal and provincial law enforcement agencies to identify them along with those responsible for sharing the content," she said.
Police said all of the people on the call have been sent contact information for Chatham-Kent Victim Services.
The group said this incident is shocking but it won't hinder their efforts to give Chatham-Kent the biggest food drive it has ever seen.
"We are going to continue to preserver, and we remain focused on helping our community achieve a miracle on May 16," Rasmussen added.
Police are reminding the public that accessing or possessing child pornography and luring are serious crimes that could result in jail time. Anyone with information regarding Thursday night’s Zoom meeting is urged to contact Constable Cole Abbott at colea@chatham-kent.ca or 519-380-6024.
Cowell added video meetings are a great way to stay connected right now, but police want everyone to stay safe while doing so.
Click here to read the best practices for securing a Zoom meeting. More information about Zoom configuration can be found here.
Zoom issued a statement late Friday afternoon saying the incident was regrettable.
“This incident is truly devastating and appalling, and our user policies explicitly prohibit any obscene, indecent, illegal or violent activity or content on the platform. We are looking into this specific incident to ensure the appropriate action is taken. Zoom strongly condemns such behaviour and recently updated several features to help our users more easily protect their meetings."