Europe Gripped by Coordinated Hoax Bomb Threats Targeting Flights and Media

A wide-reaching ambition to inflict paralyzing damage through anonymous bomb scares has been revealed as one of the first glimpses into the email threats causing security chaos across Europe. An email sent to broadcasters in Ireland referenced the widespread disruption affecting dozens of flights this week, ominously warning, “this is only the beginning” and that the events were merely a “small part of what awaits Europe in the near future.”

Irish authorities confirmed on Friday that an investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators behind a hoax email campaign that has significantly disrupted air travel in Europe. The campaign has been claimed by an individual identifying as “Mikhail Andropov.” European flights and airports experienced disruptions and heightened security checks on Friday as authorities grappled with the security challenges posed by encrypted messaging.

Earlier in the week, supermarkets across Europe were left vulnerable as refrigeration units were reportedly hijacked, leading to food spoilage as temperatures rose to 50C. Media organizations, including the Irish public broadcaster RTE, were forced to evacuate newsrooms and suspend programming after receiving a letter ominously titled “Message to the West.” The Irish government stated it is actively working to “establish who is responsible” for the “very serious” threats directed at media organizations. The statement emphasized that “Hoax threats such as these cause fear, distress and disruption to people going about their daily lives and activities; they achieve no positive purpose whatsoever.”

It remains unclear whether individual actors or a coordinated effort are behind the threats. However, the statement suggested a likely coordinated campaign, noting that “these threats come on the heels of the ongoing disruption to aviation around Europe caused by similar threats.” The bomb threats to airlines follow a series of sabotage attacks and attempts on various targets across Europe, including German electricity substations, airports, defense-related facilities in the Baltic region, and supermarket refrigerators in France.

Officials have drawn links between this campaign and Europe's support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, accusing Moscow of orchestrating a campaign of “hybrid” disruptions that are inexpensive to execute, difficult to deny, and unlikely to provoke an armed response. Moscow has vehemently denied any involvement. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas warned on Friday that coordinated infrastructure attacks, cyber operations, and hybrid campaigns exhibit active involvement from Moscow, stating, “Russian sabotage operations throughout Europe must stop.” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares echoed these concerns, suggesting that “the most reasonable assumption is that we are facing an attempt at hybrid aggression and a form of psychological warfare.”

The challenge of identifying the culprits and determining whether these are coordinated actions or the work of copycats involves tracing the authors of the hoax emails. The message attributed to “Mikhail Andropov” boasted, “we experimented with multithreading, and we succeeded in causing widespread panic, as well as forcing European authorities to spend a fortune on all these procedures.” Multithreading, a computing concept enabling concurrent thread execution, was allegedly used to send simultaneous messages targeting recipients individually, with the stated intention of provoking organizational panic. The authors further promised systemic chaos, warning in the message seen by Irish media bosses, “Very soon, we will be blowing up your airplanes, cruise ships, subway stations and trains. In the meantime, I recommend taking a vacation by plane while you still have the chance.”

Adding to the confusion, reports indicate that bomb threats purportedly from “fighters of the Male State,” a far-right anti-feminist movement banned in Russia, have been sent to several airlines and airport operators in Rome and Milan. The messages, written in fluent Italian, claimed that “fighters” of the “Male State” had planted explosives on two incoming flights as an attack on Italy's “feminist regime” that would be “remembered forever.” However, Vladislav Pozdnyakov, the Russian blogger who founded Male State in 2016, has stated that the organization no longer exists and is not involved in the current incidents.