The cyberattack that struck the French national education system over the summer is not expected to prevent the start of the school year. Minister Édouard Geffray has assured that students and staff will be able to return to school as normal on Tuesday, September 1st. Most of the digital services that were suspended as a precaution have now been restored or should be restored in the coming days.
The ministry revealed on July 31st that data concerning a significant number of its employees, including postal addresses, had been stolen. A few weeks later, hackers claimed to have obtained personal information belonging to tens of thousands of teachers and students. Several applications were then temporarily rendered unavailable, complicating the work of school administrators tasked with preparing for the start of the new school year.
A comprehensive audit and widespread two-factor authentication
Édouard Geffray maintains, however, that 98% of the necessary operations had been completed before the school holidays. Only a few adjustments remain to be made. The Toulouse academy remains the main exception: several of its online services will remain unavailable for a few more days due to the specific nature of the cyberattack.
The ministry has launched a full audit with the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI). Two-factor authentication is to be implemented across all National Education applications by the beginning of 2027. Data archiving and deletion procedures will also be reviewed. However, the precise extent of the breach remains unknown, as the ministry is still unable to determine with certainty which individuals are affected.
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