News update tonight
Bomb threats at schools via anonymous emails: “We will carry out a genocide of Italians”. Dozens of schools across Italy have been targeted. Emergency meeting at Palazzo Chigi at 4 pm
Today, hundreds of children were out on the streets due to false alarms: from Rome to Friuli. The fake email was signed ‘Mikhail Andropov’, the same pseudonym used by the hackers who have targeted several European broadcasters in recent days, also claiming responsibility for the fake attacks on aeroplanes. Crosetto: ‘There will be more and more mythomaniacs.’
After aeroplanes and supermarket fridges, it is now the turn of schools. In Rome, today, Wednesday 11 November, a new cyber-alert has been triggered affecting around twenty schools. Among the names that have emerged are the Largo San Pio V comprehensive school, the Ranocchio Scarabocchio nursery school and the Seneca grammar school. The Prefecture of Rome has confirmed the reports to Il Foglio. Similar alerts have also been recorded in dozens of schools across the rest of Italy, from Basilicata to Friuli. The alert was triggered by an anonymous email sent to schools in various cities. “So far, 312 schools have been affected” by the bomb threats in Italy, said Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara at a press briefing in Brussels. “I want to send a reassuring message because, at present, there is no danger whatsoever; therefore: no panic or anything of the sort – it would be completely unwarranted,” he added.
The email reads: “This is Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan. We have come to annihilate you. We shall carry out a genocide against the Italians. I have been preparing for this for a long time: to kill every single one of you. I have just left a powerful explosive device with a remote detonator inside a plastic bag in your building. I have positioned it so that the shockwave will spread throughout the building. All that will remain of you are bones and a bloody pulp. Furthermore, we have planted a bomb in the engine of your Prime Minister’s car. After that, we will finish off the survivors with knives.”
The pseudonym “Mikhail Andropov” is the same one used in recent days in threatening emails sent to European television broadcasters, in which the sender also claimed responsibility for the bomb threats that have affected dozens of flights in recent days. Students and school staff at the affected schools have been evacuated and security forces are currently carrying out security sweeps.
Meloni calls a meeting at Palazzo Chigi: “At present, there are no apparent dangers”
Following reports of bomb threats at schools recorded this morning in various Italian cities, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called a meeting at 4.00 pm at Palazzo Chigi to assess the situation and coordinate the necessary measures. The meeting will be attended by the Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Guido Crosetto, the Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Alfredo Mantovano, and senior officials from the intelligence services and the National Cybersecurity Agency.
“The government is monitoring very closely the numerous reports concerning bomb threats at schools,” the Prime Minister wrote on social media. “Law enforcement agencies and institutions at every level are working to monitor the situation and reassure citizens, families and school staff. At present, based on the checks carried out, there is no evidence to suggest that a real danger exists. Rather, the reports appear to be part of a strategy aimed at causing alarm and concern, and all necessary investigations into this are currently underway,” she concluded.
"No to scaremongering, because it is clear from the content of the email that the actual risk is virtually non-existent; this is a cyberattack, not a real risk in all likelihood, but the strategy must be devised in consultation with the intelligence services." This was stated by the Minister for Education, Valditara, on La 7. "We will hold a meeting with the other ministers, decide on a strategy and then stick to it," he added. "But I would like to reassure everyone: the high number of schools involved demonstrates how unreliable this is."
Bomb threats are part of a ‘strategy to sow seeds of concern’, said Defence Minister Crosetto, commenting on the bomb threats at dozens of schools across Italy. ‘The police are working precisely to distinguish between serious incidents and those that are the work of mythomaniacs, whose numbers will only increase because, unfortunately, the mother of fools is always pregnant.’
As early as 2 November, a barrage of threatening emails had reached over 270 Italian schools, including some in Rome, leading to evacuations and security checks: they claimed there were bombs, but the alerts turned out to be hoaxes. Meanwhile, Italy and other European countries have had to deal with false alarms on flights and attacks on refrigeration systems. These are separate incidents, not necessarily linked, which show just how easy it is to turn everyday services into opportunities for disruption.
Today, hundreds of children were out on the streets due to false alarms: from Rome to Friuli. The fake email was signed ‘Mikhail Andropov’, the same pseudonym used by the hackers who have targeted several European broadcasters in recent days, also claiming responsibility for the fake attacks on aeroplanes. Crosetto: ‘There will be more and more mythomaniacs.’
After aeroplanes and supermarket fridges, it is now the turn of schools. In Rome, today, Wednesday 11 November, a new cyber-alert has been triggered affecting around twenty schools. Among the names that have emerged are the Largo San Pio V comprehensive school, the Ranocchio Scarabocchio nursery school and the Seneca grammar school. The Prefecture of Rome has confirmed the reports to Il Foglio. Similar alerts have also been recorded in dozens of schools across the rest of Italy, from Basilicata to Friuli. The alert was triggered by an anonymous email sent to schools in various cities. “So far, 312 schools have been affected” by the bomb threats in Italy, said Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara at a press briefing in Brussels. “I want to send a reassuring message because, at present, there is no danger whatsoever; therefore: no panic or anything of the sort – it would be completely unwarranted,” he added.
The email reads: “This is Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan. We have come to annihilate you. We shall carry out a genocide against the Italians. I have been preparing for this for a long time: to kill every single one of you. I have just left a powerful explosive device with a remote detonator inside a plastic bag in your building. I have positioned it so that the shockwave will spread throughout the building. All that will remain of you are bones and a bloody pulp. Furthermore, we have planted a bomb in the engine of your Prime Minister’s car. After that, we will finish off the survivors with knives.”
The pseudonym “Mikhail Andropov” is the same one used in recent days in threatening emails sent to European television broadcasters, in which the sender also claimed responsibility for the bomb threats that have affected dozens of flights in recent days. Students and school staff at the affected schools have been evacuated and security forces are currently carrying out security sweeps.
Meloni calls a meeting at Palazzo Chigi: “At present, there are no apparent dangers”
Following reports of bomb threats at schools recorded this morning in various Italian cities, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called a meeting at 4.00 pm at Palazzo Chigi to assess the situation and coordinate the necessary measures. The meeting will be attended by the Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Guido Crosetto, the Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Alfredo Mantovano, and senior officials from the intelligence services and the National Cybersecurity Agency.
“The government is monitoring very closely the numerous reports concerning bomb threats at schools,” the Prime Minister wrote on social media. “Law enforcement agencies and institutions at every level are working to monitor the situation and reassure citizens, families and school staff. At present, based on the checks carried out, there is no evidence to suggest that a real danger exists. Rather, the reports appear to be part of a strategy aimed at causing alarm and concern, and all necessary investigations into this are currently underway,” she concluded.
"No to scaremongering, because it is clear from the content of the email that the actual risk is virtually non-existent; this is a cyberattack, not a real risk in all likelihood, but the strategy must be devised in consultation with the intelligence services." This was stated by the Minister for Education, Valditara, on La 7. "We will hold a meeting with the other ministers, decide on a strategy and then stick to it," he added. "But I would like to reassure everyone: the high number of schools involved demonstrates how unreliable this is."
Bomb threats are part of a ‘strategy to sow seeds of concern’, said Defence Minister Crosetto, commenting on the bomb threats at dozens of schools across Italy. ‘The police are working precisely to distinguish between serious incidents and those that are the work of mythomaniacs, whose numbers will only increase because, unfortunately, the mother of fools is always pregnant.’
As early as 2 November, a barrage of threatening emails had reached over 270 Italian schools, including some in Rome, leading to evacuations and security checks: they claimed there were bombs, but the alerts turned out to be hoaxes. Meanwhile, Italy and other European countries have had to deal with false alarms on flights and attacks on refrigeration systems. These are separate incidents, not necessarily linked, which show just how easy it is to turn everyday services into opportunities for disruption.
31-35, F
