At least 300 schools in Italy have been evacuated after receiving a hoax bomb threat via email. Similar alerts were reported in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reassured the public that there was no evidence of a genuine threat, but investigations are ongoing, and a meeting of government ministers has been called.
This incident occurred amid increasing concerns in Europe regarding hybrid warfare tactics, which have previously affected supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic, and television networks. Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara confirmed the impact on at least 300 schools, suggesting that this number may rise. He stated, “It is clear that there is a strategy at play,” but acknowledged the difficulty in identifying those responsible. He added, “There is no need for alarmism as the content of the emails makes it clear that any concrete risk is virtually nonexistent. In all likelihood, this is a cyberattack rather than a genuine threat.”
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, schools received similar threatening emails. The Northern Ireland Education Authority advised schools to remain open, noting that the police do not consider the threats credible. They remarked that the message resembled a previous hoax threat from last month that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had already dismissed.
Police Scotland echoed these sentiments, stating the messages sent to schools were also deemed to be hoaxes. Their cyber and fraud unit is investigating the source of the emails in coordination with law enforcement across the UK.
This month has seen a series of bomb threats across Europe that have led to the diversion and grounding of flights, as well as the interception of several by fighter jets. In addition, there have been cyberattacks on supermarkets in various European cities, with hackers altering refrigeration temperatures, likely to spoil food. Recent incidents were reported in Germany, Romania, and the UK, reflecting a concerning trend that started with a large-scale cyberattack on French supermarkets in October.
