Six months after the assassination of Dominique Bernard in Arras, the shadow of terrorism still hangs over National Education. Even more so at a time when threats of attack are flooding digital work environments (ENT). In a series of messages sent to school staff and students, anonymous people threaten to commit attacks against middle and high school students and teachers. In one week, more than 150 establishments were targeted, concentrated in three neighboring regions: Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France and Grand Est. The Paris prosecutor’s office, which had already opened an investigation into threats against high schools in the Ile-de-France region on March 21, indicated this Wednesday that two new investigations had been opened in the capital into cyberattacks targeting educational establishments in recent days.
The first alerts date back to Wednesday March 20. In the middle of the afternoon, a message slipped into the ENT mailboxes of 74 schools in Ile-de-France. The verb is of rare violence: “Tomorrow Thursday March 21, I will explode the entire establishment around 11/3 p.m. and I will decapitate all your kouffar bodies to serve Allah the almighty who reigns over the world? J “I put C4 (a powerful explosive, editor’s note) everywhere in the school and in the classes”, announces the sender, citing a verse from the Koran beginning with “Kill those who do not believe in Allah”. Then to go up a notch in the abomination: “I hope that your bodies of kuffars explode (sic) you into 1,000 pieces, I will bring (sic) my dogs to come and tear you apart, bunch of miscreants”. Thus ends the warning.
In his email, the sender, who claims to be from the Islamic State and signs “Glory to Allah”, invites his recipient to open a file as an attachment: a video, presented as a guide “which will show how to kill easily all these unbelievers. Because the object of the message is also to “find acolytes […] to carry out this project successfully”. The clip, which lasts more than a minute, is a double decapitation scene. Images dating from July 20, 2016, and which are not unknown to the French intelligence services. The individual who decapitates a handcuffed man is none other than Rachid Kassim, a Franco-Algerian jihadist. Died in Mosul in 2017, the terrorist praised the Nice attack carried out a few days earlier, on July 14. “We come here to congratulate ourselves and rejoice in the attack on Nice. O Mohamed, may Allah accept you among the high degrees of paradise,” he hums.
Threats taken very seriously
At the end of the day, the incident was immediately reported to the police. The threats are anything but taken lightly. Specialized investigation services are mobilized, the slogan is given: identify the authors of these messages as quickly as possible. At the same time, the public prosecutor’s offices of the cities concerned are contacted. As well as the Brigade for the fight against cybercrime, of the direction of the Parisian judicial police (BL2C). The same evening, a letter informs parents of students that police officers will be present on Thursday March 21 in the targeted establishments. And indicates “that it is a hacking of high school student accounts”. Reason why ENT messaging was deactivated.
But 48 hours later, again. Friday March 22 in the evening and Saturday March 23, new threats of attack invade the mailboxes of educational establishments. This time, it is the Hauts-de-France region which is targeted. The message is short, unequivocal: “On Monday, 122 establishments will explode”. The procedure is now well established: the establishments concerned file a complaint. The Lille rectorate too. The establishments’ exchange platform is put on standby “until further notice”. At the microphone of BFM Grand Lille, the rector of the Lille academy, Valérie Cabuil, explains that she is dealing with “this question of a hacking of the ENT which can affect all our establishments and all our schools. We must take it seriously technically “. Just a few hours after the announcements from the Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet. Among which, a future audit on the security of digital work environments.
Law enforcement patrols around high schools
On the eve of the resumption of classes, concern is growing crescendo. Some people are still hesitant to send their children to school. In a message published on Sunday March 24, the Northern prefecture tried to reassure parents, albeit poorly, that students will be welcomed under enhanced security conditions on Monday. With police and gendarmes around threatened middle and high schools. And mobile security services from National Education present within the establishments.
A similar system will be deployed in 29 establishments in the Grand Est region. Because during the night from Sunday to Monday, several schools in Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Meuse and Vosges were the target of attack threats. Depending on the affected cities, the messages vary. In Strasbourg for example, the hacker indicated that he was armed and had placed bombs at the Kléber high school, the doors of which remained closed on Monday morning. Around 7:40 a.m., management warns parents: only staff will be authorized to enter the establishment. In total, around thirty Alsatian high schools will cancel classes Monday morning. In Colmar, the Bartholdi high school will even remain closed all day.
Schools closed
Again this Wednesday March 27 in Paris. Several hundred students were deprived of lessons. More than fifty educational establishments, mainly colleges, have been targeted by new attack threats, Paris town hall said in a press release. According to information from our colleagues from Parisian, the Georges-Courteline colleges in the 12th arrondissement of the capital, Pierre-Alviset in the 5th, and Montgolfier in the 3rd are particularly concerned. The process is similar to that observed in recent days: the alerts all come from the Paris Classe Numérique (PCN) platform, the ENT of Parisian educational establishments. Mine clearance teams were immediately deployed. But “the checks by the dog teams did not report anything abnormal”, indicates The Parisian, based on information provided by sources close to the matter.
The day before, the tenant of Matignon Gabriel Attal, committed to “strengthening the workforce on the ground, in particular near schools”. On the airwaves of France Inter, the Minister of National Education announced for her part that she had “requested the suspension of all the messaging services concerned”. And to delay: “It’s not the entire system that is penetrated.” The fact remains that these false alarms, described as “hoaxes” by some observers, tighten the grip around the executive a little more. Sunday evening, the government increased the Vigipirate plan to its maximum level. A decision taken following the attack in Moscow which caused the death of at least 139 people in a concert hall. Guest of the France 2 news Monday evening, the Minister of the Interior assures us: the terrorist threat is indeed present in France: “We have never foiled as many attacks as today in France.”