In France, a number of schools were evacuated following threats of a terrorist attack on January 2 and 3. The alarming messages claimed to involve explosive devices and were traced to compromised accounts on school digital platforms. The reporting outlet Le Monde, citing AFP, notes that the threats appeared to originate from hacked accounts connected to the educational ecosystem.
The disturbances affected the ENT portal, a centralized digital workspace used to connect parents, teachers, and students, and to share information about school life. The platform functions as a hub for communications, schedule sharing, announcements, and collaborative updates within school communities. Authorities indicated that the owner of one of the compromised accounts used to disseminate the threats was detained, but later released after investigations revealed the account had been hacked. The security assessment underscored that the incident stemmed from unauthorized access rather than a direct action by the account holder.
According to the newspaper report, evacuations occurred in the northern region around the commune of La Madeleine and in Lille, with references to nearby districts in the Riyet-la-Pape area. The operations were part of standard safety protocols aimed at ensuring student and staff safety while investigators traced the source of the communications.
Separately, a separate incident in the United States involved 127 people disembarking a flight after a passenger’s device overheated and triggered a fire alarm, accompanied by visible flame on the aircraft. This event prompted emergency responses but did not result in lasting injuries reported at the time of the account. The situation was handled according to aviation safety procedures and passenger evacuation protocols as reviews continued.