France: distance education victim of cyberattacks?
The site of the National Distance Learning Center (Cned) which is supposed to ensure the continuity of the school.
AFP - GUILLAUME SOUVANT
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The French platform "Ma Classe à la maison" of the National Center for Distance Learning (Cned) has reportedly been the victim of several cyber attacks perpetrated from Russia and China, at the height of the closure of schools to slow down the coronavirus epidemic.
An investigation has been opened.
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During the first day of distance learning on Tuesday April 6, following Emmanuel Macron's decisions to close schools for three weeks, most of the students and teachers had great difficulty connecting to the platforms that allow them to follow the video course.
The Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had also mentioned "
a very strong attack from abroad
" without giving details of its origin.
Geographical origin does not mean anything
Quickly, it is about Chinese and Russian computers,
in the columns of the
JDD
.
However, the geographical origin of these malicious acts does not mean that the perpetrators are of Russian or Chinese nationality.
According to Damien Bancal, journalist and expert in cybersecurity, it is still too early to validate this hypothesis: “
Today, in IT, it is possible to usurp the identity of a region.
A young Dunkirk, a young Luxembourger, a young Belgian, can very well use tools, even pirate sites dedicated to this type of attack, and which will pass through China, Korea, Belgium.
"
“
It's very complicated,”
he continues, “
to really know where the attack is coming from.
I think we don't have enough elements yet.
It could be pirates who tried to blackmail it, it could also be college students.
At 8:30 a.m., twelve million were connecting to the same server.
it could be malicious acts for political ends.
In the case of hackers, there might be a way to say, "Look, this is us, pay us!"
".
Or “accept what you have been asked
”.
Influx of connections
The ENTs (digital workspaces) managed by local authorities, were also disrupted last week in several regions due to an influx of connections.
Criticisms of insufficient preparation for distance education have been leveled against the Minister of Education.
The Paris prosecutor's office has announced the opening of an investigation.
►
See also: France: third cyberattack against a hospital in less than a month
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