A data center in Columbus, Ohio, was evacuated last night over a bomb scare.
ABC6 reports that an unidentified facility on N. 5th Street was evacuated early Tuesday morning after a bomb threat, according to the Columbus Division of Police.
Officers were dispatched to the area at 1:20 am after a data center received a call claiming that there were three bombs in the building and they wanted a ransom.
Officers reportedly searched the building but didn't find anything dangerous, and are now investigating the source of the original hoax call.
Lumen and Cogent Communications appear to operate facilities on N. 5th Street; DCD has reached out to both for more information. Cogent declined to comment and Lumen is yet to reply.
Such bomb threats are not to be taken lightly in light of other recent incidents. Earlier this month Seth Aaron Pendley was sentenced to 10 years for plotting to blow up an AWS data center in Northern Virginia. A 2020 Christmas Day suicide bomber in Nashville took out an AT&T facility, but seemingly wasn’t specifically targeting the telco. And in March the NYPD warned that white supremacists and conspiracy theorists are targeting cell towers, critical infrastructure to “incite fear, disrupt essential services, and cause economic damage with the United States and abroad."
