Hoax bomb emails hit hundreds of schools in Italy, UK and Ireland
Officials said false warnings went to schools in Rome, Naples, Florence and other Italian cities, while British and Irish authorities traced a similar email abroad.
Hundreds of schools in Italy were sent bomb threats by email on Wednesday, and authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland said a threatening email sent to schools there was a hoax that originated outside the United Kingdom.
The BBC reported that emails containing false warnings went to schools in Rome, Naples, Vicenza, Florence, Pisa, Trieste and other Italian cities, citing officials. France 24 reported that hundreds of schools in Italy were evacuated after receiving the threats.
Reuters described the alerts as the latest disruption of their kind. In one report it said hoax bomb alerts had gone to schools in Italy, the UK and Ireland; a second Reuters report named Italy and Northern Ireland as the places hit.
In the UK, France 24 reported that the authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had dismissed the threatening email, sent to a large number of schools on Wednesday, as a hoax originating from outside the United Kingdom.
CNA reported that the alerts were the latest in a series of threats and cyberattacks on supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and TV broadcasters across Europe.
None of the reports said what the emails contained beyond a warning of a bomb, who was behind them, or whether police had made any arrests. None reported a device being found.
Schools in three countries were affected within the same week, and the responses ran from evacuation in Italy to a public statement from three UK administrations that the message was false.
How the reports differ
BBC News kept its report on Italy, naming Rome, Naples, Vicenza, Florence, Pisa and Trieste among the cities whose schools received the emails. France 24 led on the conclusion by authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that a threatening email sent to a large number of schools was a hoax from outside the UK, and reported that hundreds of Italian schools were evacuated. CNA set the alerts inside a wider pattern, listing earlier threats and cyberattacks on supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and television broadcasters across Europe. Reuters called the alerts the latest disruption and, in one of its two reports, named Northern Ireland rather than the UK as a whole.
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