High schools in Île-de-France received threats of attack and a video of beheading

After a wave of bomb threats in several establishments in the fall, messages threatening a terrorist attack, accompanied by a video of beheading, have been sent since Wednesday March 20 to high schools in the Paris region via hacked digital workspaces (ENT).

“Around fifty” establishments are affected at this stage, the Île-de-France region told AFP.

These, "mainly high schools" have received "threats" with "apology and provocation of terrorism" since Wednesday, i.e. "several serious offenses", underlined the Ministry of Education.

The ministry “condemns these serious threats”, which “passed through the ENT, the school’s internal mailbox or even the Pronote site”. It “also ensures that there is no compromise of the networks due to the sending of these messages”.

The ENT is a digital space which serves as a link between teachers, students and parents. Pronote is software used by educational establishments to communicate student grades.

Also read: Increase in false bomb threats in France: how are they managed?

"They think they remain anonymous but we are tracking them. They think they are safe but we are punishing them. Several dozen perpetrators of these threats, which occurred in recent months, have already been brought to justice," declared the Prime Minister. Minister Gabriel Attal, following an interministerial meeting on the security of educational establishments in Matignon.

Psychological support

“Specialized investigation services are being mobilized to identify the perpetrator(s),” added the Ministry of Education, which “offers psychological support to all children or adults who have watched the shocking videos against their will.” 

“The police services, immediately notified, are doing what is necessary to ensure the safety of the students,” he assured.

Establishments of the academy of Créteil (which brings together Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne), of Paris and around twenty in the academy of Versailles (Val-d'Oise , Yvelines, Essonne and Hauts-de-Seine) received these threats, indicated the rectorates concerned.

According to a police source, a message announcing an explosive attack was sent to at least five high schools in Yvelines on Wednesday evening and during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. “The perpetrator(s) hacked a student’s email address in order to broadcast the message and a beheading video on all the boxes.”

Video showing “individuals being beheaded”

In Val-d'Oise, all students and staff at the Jean-Monnet high school in Franconville, for example, received a message "threatening the establishment of a terrorist attack for Thursday March 21, 2024", indicated a police source. This email was “accompanied by links giving access to a video showing individuals being beheaded”.

In Seine-et-Marne, at the Jean-Moulin high school in Torcy, a message was "sent on social networks indicating that C4 [a variety of explosives, Editor's note] was hidden throughout the establishment in the name of Allah", according to another police source.

The Île-de-France region announced that it had "filed a complaint" Thursday morning "to the Paris cyber prosecutor's office following the creation of a fraudulent site aimed at hacking the regional ENT". 

Following this hack, “fraudulent emails were sent to high school students in Île-de-France with threats of Islamist attack,” she added.

The president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, denounces “extremely serious facts, which call for exemplary sanctions”. The ENT of Île-de-France has been suspended.

Opening an investigation

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to AFP that its anti-cybercrime section had been "informed for the moment of two complaints concerning cyberattacks to the detriment of Parisian ENTs". 

“An investigation has been opened into charges of fraudulent access and maintenance in an automated data processing system, and fraudulent introduction of data,” he added. He said he was “making comparisons with similar facts brought before other prosecutors”.

These threats come after a wave of false bomb alerts which affected a number of educational establishments in the fall (800 alerts according to government figures in mid-November).

Also read "We don't want a bunker": after the Arras attack, school security in question

They multiplied after the jihadist attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard, in Arras, on October 13. 

An interministerial meeting on the security of educational establishments is taking place Thursday afternoon under the leadership of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in the presence of the Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, and the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti.

With AFP

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