Racist hackers "Zoom bomb" first Black woman US Fed Reserve Governor during university speech
US Fed Reserve Governor Dr. Lisa Cook, the first African American woman to serve on the Board, was the target of racist hackers on Thursday after the live stream lecture she was giving at the University of Pittsburgh was "Zoom bombed" by unknown assailants.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
US Federal Reserve Governor Dr. Lisa Cook, the first African American woman to serve on the Board, was the target of racist hackers on Thursday after the livestream lecture she was giving at the University of Pittsburgh was "Zoom bombed" by unknown assailants.
Cook, also an economist and professor, had been invited to deliver the popular 2025 McKay Lecture on Thursday in honor of the University’s former Economics Department Dr. Marion McKay (D. 1978), who held the position for more than 30 years.
The Spelman College Marshall Scholar and Oxford University grad told the audience she had been looking forward to presenting the lecture for months, “because researching, discussing, and teaching economics have long been my favorite activities.”
But, just “several minutes” into Cook’s highly-anticipated Economic Outlook speech (transcript here), racist remarks, Nazi symbols, and pornographic images began to appear on the viewing screen.
This prompted whomever was in charge of the live stream to immediately cut off the live broadcast, according to Reuters.
It's unknown if Cook or the audience were aware of the hack while she was giving the lecture, but a scheduled Q&A to take place directly following the lecture was subsequently canceled, a Federal Reserve spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“Apparently, Zoom bombing is still a thing – and even the Fed isn’t safe,” Mario Nawfal, founder of start-up investment firm IBC Group, posted on X after the news broke.
🇺🇸 FED’S LISA COOK HIT WITH ZOOM BOMBING DURING UNIVERSITY SPEECH
undefined Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 3, 2025
Racist slurs, Nazi symbols, and porn hijacked the livestream of Lisa Cook’s remarks—forcing the University of Pittsburgh event offline mid-speech.
Cook powered through in person, but the Q&A was cut short.… https://t.co/jwn3ZAyYaE pic.twitter.com/U47vEHPbqi
It’s not clear if Cook was the intended target of the hacker’s ire, but the racial slurs and nazi symbols posted on the live video feed seem to support that theory.
The annual McKay lecture is open to the public and known to attract a large audience of students and faculty from both within “Pitt” and outside universities, as well as from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, business, and local communities.
Furthermore, it's also not the first time a federal official has fallen victim to the disruptive practice, Reuters noted.
In 2023, the media outlet says a virtual-only event featuring current Fed Governor Christopher Waller suffered a similar fate with pornographic images popping up on the screen, forcing that entire event to be canceled.
The University of Pittsburgh has not commented on the incident.
What is Zoom bombing?
VTC hijacking, or the more popular term “Zoom bombing,” refers to “the unwanted, disruptive intrusion – generally by internet trolls and hackers – into a video conference/meeting,” according to Delgado Community College in New Orleans.
“In a typical Zoom bombing incident, a teleconferencing session/meeting is hijacked by the insertion of materials that are lewd, obscene, racist, or anti-semitic in nature, typically resulting in the shutdown of the session," the college website states.
The FBI says since the COVID-19 crisis and the transition to online lessons and meetings, reports of Zoom bombings have increased nationwide.
To help defend against unwanted hijacking threats, the FBI warns organizers to schedule meetings as private, always require a meeting password, use the waiting room feature to control the admittance of guests, and never publicly share a meeting link online.
The FBI additionaly sugggests to make sure your teleconferencing software is updated, and once an online event has started, to change screensharing to “Host Only.”