Toulouse. The National School of Aviation victim of a cyberattack, demand for ransom in the key
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
“ENAC is the victim of a cyberattack since this weekend”, announced this Friday, March 18, 2022 on its social networks, theNational School of Civil Aviationbased on Toulouse.
A ransom demand
“We were victims of a virus which developed last weekend in our computer networks”, details Philippe Joachim, assistant to the director of ENAC. “It has spread to all ENAC sites in France”, including the administrative headquarters, in the Pink City.
The head of ENAC specifies having received “a ransom demand, of which we do not have the elements, since we did not open the message, for technical reasons”. Be that as it may, the institution does not intend to follow up on it.
Networks unusable and planes stopped
“Security devices were immediately put in place to fight against the spread of this computer virus”, specifies the institution, whose operation remains strongly impacted this Friday, “even if circumvention measures make it possible to maintain activity”.
If on Monday, all the students and agents of the establishment were sent home, the situation is improving little by little, but ” computer applications specific to ENAC are out of service, and the networks remain unusable”, adds Philippe Joaquim.
ENAC also has a fleet of a hundred planes, on which his students will offer the cogs of piloting: all are currently at a standstill, but should return to the sky “in the coming days”.
The first aeronautical school in Europe
Under the supervision of the Minister responsible for civil aviation, ENAC brings together training and research activities in aeronautical engineering, air navigation and aircraft piloting. Located on avenue Édouard Belin, next to the CNES, in the Aerospace Valley, the first aeronautical school in Europe trains pilots and other engineers from all over the world. Each year, it welcomes some 3,000 students in more than 30 training programs and 7,500 interns for continuing education.
“No track” on the origin of the attack
Where does the hacking of this flagship of French and European aviation come from? And while cyberattacks for many places in Eastern Europe have multiplied since the war in Ukraine, should we see a link? So far, the school has no “no leads” on the origin of this attack, or how it penetrated his computer network. “We have not yet identified the perpetrators, or even the virus”, supports Philippe Joaquim.
ENAC lodged a complaint, and the investigation was assigned to the Territorial Directorate of federal police From toulouse. In addition to its own technical teams, the establishment has requested the assistance of its service providers, as well as the DGAC (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). Objective: to stop the attack, and go up the track.
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