ROME, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday that recent cyberattacks across Europe were a cause for concern, stressing that investment in defense and security was not just about weapons, but also about protecting people's daily lives.
Speaking at Fieracavalli, an international horse fair in Verona, Meloni said investigators are working on the cases, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
It was not yet clear whether the cyberattack on plasma storage facilities in France, false bomb alerts involving aircraft, and attacks targeting food supplies were connected, she said.
However, all these incidents pointed to a common concern: civilian infrastructure, including food, hospitals, healthcare systems and means of transport, was coming under attack, she noted.
The prime minister stressed that, under the current circumstances, defense and security spending should not be seen simply as spending on weapons, but as an investment in safeguarding people's everyday lives.
She cited an incident in which hackers had attempted to alter the temperature settings of refrigerators used to store blood for transfusions. The blood supplies were ultimately kept safe thanks to a security system that required financial investment, she said.
Meloni described as "nonsense" the argument that resources allocated to defense and security were being diverted from healthcare services or hospitals.
Earlier on Friday, Italian news agency ANSA reported that a Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome had received a bomb threat. The aircraft, which was scheduled to land in Rome, was diverted to Venice. Police subsequently completed security checks and found no explosives on board.
