Establishments targeted by attack threats in the Reims academy

Europe 1 with AFP 11:05 a.m., March 25, 2024

Around ten establishments at the Reims academy were the target of threats of attacks via their hacked digital work spaces (ENT), the rectorate said on Monday, a few days after similar messages in the academies of Lille, Amiens and in Ile-de-France. The middle and high schools concerned, whose accounts were hacked during the night from Sunday to Monday, are located in Marne, Ardennes, Aube and Haute-Marne, it is specified in the press release.

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According to the rectorate, some of the messages received contain a video of beheading, like the messages received last week by around fifty establishments in Ile-de-France. On Saturday, ten middle and high schools from the Amiens academy - in Aisne, Oise and Somme - as well as around fifteen establishments from the Lille academy were targeted by similar messages , depending on the rectorates concerned. A message consulted by AFP, sent to parents of students at a Lille college, assures “on Monday, 122 establishments will explode”. The author of the message also threatens to attack the CNews television channel, owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

“They think they remain anonymous but we track them”

The establishments targeted in the academies of Amiens, Lille, and Reims were to reopen Monday morning with security by the police, the gendarmerie and the mobile security teams of National Education. In certain cases, “listening cells” for students had to be deployed. Access to ENTs at these three academies has been suspended until further notice.

"They think they remain anonymous but we track them. They think they are safe but we sanction them. Several dozen perpetrators of these threats, which occurred in recent months, have already been brought to justice (brought to justice, editor's note )", declared Prime Minister Gabriel Attal last week after the threats received in establishments in Ile-de-France. The government counted 800 false bomb threats in mid-November during a previous series of alerts in the fall. They multiplied after the jihadist attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard, in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), on October 13.