Académie de Toulouse paralyzed by cyberattack

A cyberattack has paralyzed the information systems of the Académie de Toulouse, causing a significant disruption just days before the start of the new school year. Following a security incident on August 19, Rector Karim Benmiloud ordered the suspension of all professional applications, messaging services, and the official website to protect the network.

The outage has created what the FSU-SNUipp 31 teachers' union describes as a “black-out.” Key consequences include the inability of schools to communicate with families, the loss of access to administrative software for managing staff and payroll, and difficulties in managing school maps and student enrollments. School directors report being unable to access new registration data, making it difficult to prepare for class sizes.

The attack is attributed to the cybercriminal group ZeroBytes and has affected several other academies across France after an initial fraudulent intrusion into the Ministry of National Education's systems in late July.