The cyberattack that occurred this Wednesday, March 20, 2024 triggered the opening of an investigation and the filing of two complaints. Access to the ENT in Île-de-France is currently suspended.
A new massive attack targets France. Around fifty high schools were targeted by threats of explosive attacks following a cyberhack of their digital work space (ENT). Posts claiming to act on behalf of the Islamic State group have threatened to blow up establishments and behead non-Muslims.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation, and “doubt removal” was carried out to ensure the safety of the students. The government condemned the threats and announced a meeting to secure schools at risk.
A hack taken “very seriously” by the Ministry of National Education
Around fifty schools in the Ile-de-France region were targeted by threats of explosive attacks during a hacking of their digital workspace. This online service, which brings together educational tools accessible remotely for students, teachers and parents, was compromised by one or more authors who created a fraudulent site to hack the ENT. Following this operation, fraudulent emails containing threats of Islamist attack were sent to high school students in Île-de-France from this Wednesday, March 20, 2024. These threats were also transmitted by the box internal email of establishments and via the Pronote site, used to communicate student grades.
Students, parents and teachers were able to receive a message whose author claims to act on behalf of the Islamic State. The author of the text affirms his desire to blow up the establishments on Thursday March 21, 2024 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., after having filed “ of C4 [un explosif] everywhere in the school and in the classes “. He further declares that he wants to behead “ your kuffar bodies [nom donné aux non-musulmans] to serve Allah the Almighty “. An attachment containing a beheading video accompanied the message. The government denounced these threats, accompanied by “ apology and provocation of terrorism “, which consist of ” several serious offenses “.
After these threats taken “ very seriously “, the Ministry of National Education condemned these acts and immediately notified the police to ensure the safety of students. Specialized investigation services were mobilized to identify the perpetrators of these threats. Several checks were carried out Wednesday evening and Thursday morning to ensure that there was no compromise of the networks after these messages were sent, sometimes on internal networks.
Filing of complaints, support measures and an open investigation
The ministry offered psychological support to all children or adults who unwillingly viewed the shocking images attached to the text. The Versailles academy activated a crisis unit to support school heads and staff, sometimes in direct contact with the families who received the message, and announced that it was in contact with the security services for checks.
Two complaints concerning these cyberattacks were filed with the cybercrime section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office. One of the two complaints comes from the Île-de-France region, which highlighted extremely serious acts. The region mobilized the 12 regional security brigades. On the social network X.com, the president of the region Valérie Pécresse (LR) denounced cyberattacks and terrorist cyberthreats on high schools in Île-de-France. She wants the perpetrators to be quickly identified and severely punished.
For the moment, access to the ENT of Île-de-France has been entirely suspended, assured the Île-de-France region. She clarified that she was doing everything possible to ensure that the situation returned to normal and wanted to assure the entire educational community and parents of her full support. An investigation was opened with the following charges: fraudulent access and maintenance in an automated data processing system; and fraudulent introduction of data.
The case was contacted by the Cybercrime Brigade of the Paris Judicial Police Department. The Paris public prosecutor’s office is making a comparison with similar facts reported to other public prosecutor’s offices, in order to consider possible centralization if any overlaps are proven. The government is tracking down the perpetrators of threats sent to high schools in the Paris region, said Gabriel Attal. He also announced the holding on April 4 of a meeting on the security of 150 to 200 establishments classified as particularly at risk.
Source : Franceinfo
1