A threat should be considered "unreliable" if it has a "serial character", i.e. it is made up of identical messages that have the same origin and are addressed "indiscriminately" to a plurality of recipients. Alarms conveyed by mail bombing, therefore, which do not "in any way concern cyber events" for which, instead, a completely different prevention and investigative procedure must be followed. In a four-page circular, sent to prefects and police commissioners, the Viminale's operational indications arrive on how to act in the event of new bomb alerts which could be triggered once again through 'rain' emails and involve not only schools but also other essential services or places with large concentrations of people, from stations to shopping centres.
The objective of the directive signed by Minister Matteo Piantedosi is to ensure "coordinated and homogeneous methods of intervention" throughout Italy and maintain the "regularity of activities and services" when safety conditions allow it. Evacuations, therefore, will not have to be triggered automatically but will be assessed when "further elements of risk" emerge. Among the parameters, for example, the discovery of suspicious objects, the detection - also through video surveillance systems - of "anomalies that may be linked to the threat", the existence of previous episodes, reports or other "information elements" that lead us to believe we are faced with a "specific objective" for which an increase in protection measures is necessary. For their part, schools, according to the invitation from the Ministry of Education, must "promptly inform" the police if they receive threats. "It is important that schools can count on shared criteria and on timely liaison with the security authorities - comments the satisfied president of the National Principals' Association Antonello Giannelli - avoiding that each manager is left alone to face situations of strong pressure and uncertainty".
The directive then defines the chain of command: the police commissioners will have to carry out checks and adopt security measures without interrupting the continuity of services. Only when necessary will the police commissioner propose evacuation to the prefect. The Department of Public Security will instead take care of the "information connection" with the local offices, through the Situation Center operating 24 hours a day, encouraging the "rapid sharing" of reports to assess the reliability of the threat. "There is no distortion of the institutional architecture - Piantedosi assured - it is a question of applying on a large scale the procedures that are already adopted when false alarms occur, above all to avoid interruptions of public services and the spread of unfounded fears". In the same vein, deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani: "We must make it clear that we will not be influenced by operations that only attempt to cause chaos". Precisely for this reason, the directive continues, caution must be adopted in public communication, so as not to "amplify its effects and increase the sense of insecurity in the population". A speech that can be found in the words of the delegated authority for security Alfredo Mantovano: "so far the damage has been caused more than hackers by a media-induced panic".
But the undersecretary goes further and reiterates how it is now necessary to "be convinced that cyber security systems are an investment and not a cost". And the resources, according to him, are there. "The 2027 Budget Law provides for 298.9 million euros" of which almost 96 million for the increase of the National Cybersecurity Agency "which carries out an indispensable resilience activity, and involves intelligence, the Interior with the Postal Police, and all the structured ministries equipped with a cyber core". On the other hand, the spending commitment foreseen from 2027 to 2040 amounts to approximately 130 million euros if the bill which aims to annex greater cyber capabilities to the armed forces and which provides for 1,200 specialists selected from among military personnel when fully operational, becomes standard.
