Where are the investigations following the arrest of a minor?

A 17-year-old minor is suspected of having sent several dozen threatening messages against middle and high schools, using a technique much simpler than a cyberattack.

The Minister ofEnational education Nicole Belloubet announced the suspension of messaging for all ENTs, probably until the Easter holidays. Messages threatening attacks against middle and high schools were sent via these digital work spaces (ENT), used by teachers to submit lessons or even. More than 300 alerts have been recorded since last week against educational establishments.

A 17-year-old minor is suspected of having sent several dozen threatening messages was arrested Thursday March 28 and his police custody was extended. A 21-year-old young man, who admitted to having sent false bomb threats to high schools, is in pre-trial detention. Franceinfo takes stock of the various investigations.

Three ongoing investigations

Three investigations are opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The first concerns the messages broadcast via the ENTs of high schools in Île-de-France on the night of March 20 to 21, 2024. The second concerns messages broadcast via the ENTs of Île-de-France colleges during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The third investigation concerns messages broadcast throughout France since last week. “Its purpose is to centralize open investigations by the various public prosecutor’s offices concerning messages broadcast via the ENTs of other regional jurisdictions. the prosecution told franceinfo.

A 17-year-old young man arrested

The 17-year-old young man, suspected of threatening attacks against middle and high schools, was arrested Thursday in Malakoff, south of Paris. His police custody was extended on Friday. This minor is suspected of having sent dozens of messages threatening attacks, accompanied by a video of beheading, to the ENTs of numerous schools. Thursday, in police custody, the young man did not admit the facts. His profile and the reasons why he sent these messages are not known at this stage.

21-year-old admits to sending false bomb threats

Last week, a 21-year-old young man was placed in pre-trial detention by the Angoulême public prosecutor’s office, pending his trial. He is suspected of being at the origin of several false bomb threats in high schools. He admitted the facts. His lawyer explained that he wanted to test the police and that he had absolutely no plans to commit an attack. This young man is described as reclusive in his room and desocialized. He will be subject to a psychiatric assessment before being judged.

Not cyberattacks, but phishing

These threats of attacks are not cyberattacks, contrary to what was initially assumed. The method used is much simpler, as explained by ex-police officer Pierre Penalba, an expert in cybercrime. “This is not a hack as such since it is not the application codes that were forced, but identity theft with the recovery of identifiers and passwords”underlines the expert.

The authors therefore carried out phishing or phishing, by sending fraudulent emails or SMS messages to students, parents or teachers. They managed to recover connection identifiers from the ENTs and then send the famous attack threat messages. Investigators from the anti-cybercrime office are therefore continuing their investigations, looking for the authors of these hundreds of false bomb threats.