Zoom Hacker Threatens To Blow Up Cary School: Cops

CARY, IL — A small group of school employees were inside Oak Knoll Early Childhood Center in Cary on Monday when a hacker, who disguised their voice, came on a Zoom call and threatened to blow up the school, police said. A teacher was running the call with preschool-aged children when the incident occurred at about 11 a.m. Monday.

The teacher immediately ended the Zoom meeting and notified administrators who then called police. Officials with the Cary Police Department, Cary Fire Department and school did a quick walk-through of the school, which had been locked at the time of hacking incident, Scott Naydenoff, Cary Police Department deputy chief of support services, told Patch in an e-mail response.

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There were no children inside the school, which has been closed since May 17 when Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered the cancellation of in-person instruction to slow the spread of the new coronavrius across the state. Only a couple teachers and administrators were in the building, at 200 N. Second Street in Cary, at the time.

There are no concerns of security breach at the school, Naydenoff said.

The hacking incident is under investigation. The Cary Police Department is working with Zoom to identify who was a part of the meeting through their internet subscriber information, Naydenoff said.

This "often requires a subpoena process," Naydenoff said.

This is the first reported incident of a Zoom call hacker in Cary, he said. Other similar incident have been reported more in recent weeks as schools and businesses have shifted online amid COVID-19 shutdowns.