INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:

While Tourism Minister Bhattarai was speaking, around a minute-long video popped up on the screen of conference attendees Kathmandu, June

22 A video conference organised by Nepal Tourism Board today to unveil COVID-19 prevention protocol got disrupted by Zoom-bombing. In order

to launch ‘Operational guideline with health protocol for tourism sector& today, NTB had organised the video conference via Zoom app where

Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai was the chief guest. After launching the protocol, when Tourism Minister Bhattarai was addressing the

event, a porn video popped up on the screen. The minister was speaking about tourism entrepreneurs and workers who have been affected by the

coronavirus when around a minute-long video popped up on the screen of conference attendees

Soon after that, the programme host from NTB ended the session. The session was attended by more than 200 participants, including NTB CEO

Dhananjay Regmi, NTB Senior Director Nandini Lahe Thapa, tourism entrepreneur Karna Shakya and Tourism Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari,

among others. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a committee to investigate the rather embarrassing incident in

coordination with NTB. Issuing a statement after the conference, NTB stated that investigation was on and needful action would be taken

after identifying the spammer. As the name suggests, Zoom-bombing is a cyberattack on video call, where an individual or a group of people

enter it without the permission of the host

Not only is this interruption disruptive and frustrating, some crashers have used Zoom-bombing to share offensive or explicit images and

hate speech. Even prior to this, many people have faced Zoom-bombings during their webinars. As the country is in the process of easing the

lockdown, many offices, schools and colleges are conducting online meetings and classes. And with the increasing use of online platforms for

communication, online hacking has also increased

Information technology experts have been saying that caution should be observed while organising such webinars. The protocol launched today

was prepared by NTB in coordination with MoCTCA and the private sector based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Population and

World Health Organisation

The objective of the protocol is to make the tourism sector safe and reliable during this pandemic. The guidelines cover information for

different tourism sectors, such as hotels, restaurants and tourism offices and how each of these shall follow safety, hygiene and sanitation

measures to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. NTB stated that the guidelines were the operational modality for a smooth transition to reopen

the tourism industry post-lockdown. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times. The post

Zoom-bombing disrupts Nepal Toursim board video conference appeared first on The Himalayan Times.