after the wave of hackings and threats of attacks targeting educational establishments, what measures were taken to welcome students on Monday?

High schools and colleges in the Ile-de-France region as well as Hauts-de-France will be subject to increased surveillance on Monday after receiving messages threatening a terrorist attack.

A Monday like any other, or almost. A few days after a wave of hacks accompanied by threats of attacks against schools, high school and college students in the Paris region and Hauts-de-France will return to class on Monday March 25. A resumption in a context of reinforced security, and still without access to their digital workspace (ENT), suspended until further notice.

This platform, which serves as a link between teachers, students and parents to transmit homework in particular, suffered several cyberattacks leading to the dissemination of content threatening attacks, in around fifty establishments in the Paris region on Wednesday, then Friday evening in five establishments in the Somme and several others in the North. Franceinfo takes stock of the measures taken before returning to class.

A removal of doubts for the establishments concerned

After receiving the first threats by students from the academies of Créteil (which includes Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne), Paris and Versailles (which includes Val-d ‘Oise, Yvelines, Essonne and Hauts-de-Seine), the establishments concerned “have been the subject of a removal of doubt”, explains to franceinfo the Ministry of National Education. The same protocol was applied during the weekend after the discovery of threats broadcast this time on the ENT of establishments of the academies of Amiens (Aisne, Oise and Somme) and Lille (Nord, Pas-de-Calais) .

Rue de Grenelle, they say “take these threats very seriously”, but we also recall that the messages sent to Ile-de-France students predicted attacks which ultimately did not take place on the dates and times announced by the pirates. The messages broadcast after the hacking which occurred on Friday evening in Hauts-de-France alerted 122 establishments of an explosive attack on Monday.

A reinforced system on Monday

No closure has been decided, but the security system is increased locally on Monday by the police and the National Education services. The establishments targeted by these hacks will see their “reinforced security conditions”tells franceinfo the Somme prefecture, where three high schools and three colleges were threatened.

“The mobile security teams of National Education, the police and the national gendarmerie will be mobilized on site“, she adds, and “vigilance will be greater, even for other establishments”and this in particular in order to “reassure parents and the educational community”.

“A protocol developed by the rectorate and the management departmental services of National Education, in conjunction with the three prefectures and the police, was put in place and communicated to school heads on Saturday morning.”abounds the rectorate of Amiens (which brings together the departments of the’Aisneof the’Oise and some Somme), interviewed by franceinfo.

“Instructions were given on Saturday to establishments which communicated with their staff and families., continues the Amiens rectorate. A system similar to what will be applied for all targeted establishments.

ENT suspended until further notice

After the distribution of threatening messages to students and parents, it was decided to suspend the ENT until further notice in the five academies concerned (Amiens, Créteil, Lille, Paris and Versailles). “IThis is not an attack on computer systems, but identity theftwe explain to the Ministry of Education. We deactivate access to ENTs in the event of suspicion of such theft, so that the user can modify their keys.we continue on rue de Grenelle.

While waiting for access to ENT to be restored for all in these five academies,Staff, students and their parents will have to communicate through other channels, which does not pose a major problem, according to the ministry.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Thursday that those responsible for these cyberattacks would be “hunted” And “sanctioned”, following an interministerial meeting on the security of educational establishments in Matignon. The Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, denounced attacks “unacceptable”on LCI Friday, and announced a future “audit on the security of ENTs, to see if there are any potentially repairable flaws”.

“Support” for students and adults exposed to violent content

Some students were exposed to violent messages, and even a beheading video. The Ministry of Education announced “psychological support for all children or adults who have watched the shocking videos against their will”. It is the rectors who have control over this point, specifies the ministry.