At least 300 schools in Italy have been evacuated after receiving the same hoax bomb threat by email while authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland also report receiving similar alerts.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stressed on Wednesday that there was no indication of any concrete danger to Italian schools but investigations were under way and a meeting of government ministers has been convened.
Wednesday’s security alert came amid rising concerns in Europe about hybrid warfare threats , which have targeted supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and TV broadcasters.
Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told the La7 TV channel that at least 300 schools were affected by the bomb threats, adding that the number could rise.
“It is clear that there is a strategy at play,” he told the network. “It is difficult to say right now who might be behind this. Intelligence services are, of course, working to identify them.”
But 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.”
Separately on Wednesday, a large number of schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland were also sent threatening emails. The Northern Ireland Education Authority said schools there have been advised to stay open because police did not regard them as a credible threat.
“The message has similarities with a bogus threat sent last month, which was declared a hoax by PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland],” the Education Authority said.
Police Scotland also said the messages sent to schools in that country do not represent a credible threat and are being treated as hoaxes. The police force said its cyber and fraud unit is working to establish the source of the messages, liaising with law enforcement across the United Kingdom and internationally. This follows a similar mass bomb hoax email sent to Scottish schools on October 19.
This month, flights across Europe have been diverted, grounded and escorted by fighter jets in response to a wave of bomb threats.
There have also been cyberattacks on supermarkets in several European cities with hackers changing the temperature on refrigeration in an apparent attempt to spoil food.
Last week, hackers raised the temperatures of refrigeration systems at supermarkets in Germany, Romania and the UK.
The attacks mirrored the cyberattack that swept hundreds of supermarkets across France in October.
