Schools told to stay open after mass email hoaxes spark panic across Italy
Italian state schools have been advised against evacuating classrooms after a second consecutive day of mass emailed hoax bomb threats triggered widespread disruption across the country on Thursday. The Italian government directed school administrators to maintain normal operations after security checks confirmed no physical danger accompanied the messages, which targeted educational institutions nationwide.
Police find no explosives after threats trace to accounts in Taiwan and Philippines
Security personnel found no hazardous materials in any inspected facilities after threat emails were dispatched across almost Italy‘s entire state school network. The initial wave of messages, received on Wednesday, was routed through an account in Taiwan under the name “Mikhail Andropov” from “Misoginistan,” prompting immediate panic and evacuations at hundreds of institutions. A subsequent batch sent on Thursday originated from an account traced to the Philippines, leading to further local evacuations before national authorities intervened.
Following meetings with intelligence and security chiefs, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed that police checks yielded nothing in any school and stated the coordinated messages were intended solely to instill fear. Official guidance issued by the government established that receiving a mass email without concrete evidence of actual danger does not warrant clearing school buildings.
European security officials are assessing whether the coordinated school hoaxes represent a deliberate hybrid warfare strategy, following recent parallel incidents involving hoax bomb threats on commercial flights and cyber attacks against supermarket refrigeration infrastructure across the region.
