“The digital workspaces (ENT) of around fifteen establishments at the Lille academy were hacked during the night from Friday to Saturday” announces the prefecture of the Nord department. As a result, “the ENT messaging function has been deactivated in order to limit the transmission of threatening messages, and will remain so until further notice.”
The Northern prefectural authority indicates that on Monday March 25, 2024, “the establishments will be open and will welcome students under enhanced security conditions”.
Last week, threats of attacks as well as an extremely violent terrorist video were sent to students, staff and families following the hacking of the digital work environment in the Ile de France region. According to the Ministry of National Education, these threats were also broadcast on the Pronote website.
The trail of a phishing campaign
An audit on the security of ENTs was mentioned by Gabriel Attal last Wednesday. Some media specify that the origin of these attacks is a phishing campaign initiated against students in these establishments.
The use of ENT to spread threat messages is not a first. In January 2023, a mine clearance operation took place at the Baggio high school in Lille, after a threatening message from an individual.
These attack threats come after a wave of false bomb threats which affected several hundred French schools last fall. They multiplied after the jihadist attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard, in Arras, on October 13, 2023.
The “emergency attack” level of the Vigipirate plan triggered last night
These repeated computer attacks on ENTs take place in a tense security context in France.
At the end of the Security Council chaired by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday March 24 and devoted to “the attack in Moscow and its consequences”, the government announced that the “emergency attack” alert was decreed in France. This is the highest level of the Vigipirate plan.
The attack, Friday evening in a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, left at least 137 dead. It was claimed by EI-K, for “Islamic State in Khorasan”.
The “emergency attack” alert in particular “ensures the exceptional mobilization of resources, but also disseminates information likely to protect citizens in a crisis situation”, such as posters or audio messages in public places. Restrictive measures such as searches at building entrances can also be strengthened.