This morning, the International Business Times reported that, per a PasteBin dump by hackers identifying as part of Anonymous, ISIS is planning a number of terrorist attacks worldwide this weekend. One of the targets, listed as not 100% confirmed, is tomorrow’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view event at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
DEVELOPING: FBI official: Taking report about ISIS threat seriously in Atlanta https://t.co/nNc1I3WM9B pic.twitter.com/XAAZY5zwB1
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) November 21, 2015
Anonymous is not planning to release the proof publicly but told the IB Times that they have “passed proof to the MI5 intelligence agency in the U.K., the CIA and FBI in the U.S., and the Australian government.”
There was some skepticism on Twitter at first: On one hand International Business Times is a legitimate news organization and the author is an editor there with a verified Twitter account. On the other, they’ve become best known for being a “content farm” full of “click bait” style articles with headlines about nonexistent new technology products to get Google hits. It became clear that the story is very legitimate when Mark Winne of WSB-TV in Atlanta chimed in on Twitter:
FBI official: taking #Anonymous report about #Isis threat @ #WWE event in #Atlanta seriously @wsbtv #BREAKING
— Mark Winne (@MarkWinneWSB) November 21, 2015
Don't panic about #wwe event. More info coming @wsbtv
— Mark Winne (@MarkWinneWSB) November 21, 2015
WSB then posted a statement from Jim Butterworth of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, saying that they are “working closely with the FBI, the Georgia information sharing and analysis center and others in evaluating the threat on a Sunday WWE event in Atlanta reported by the group Anonymous.” After that, Winne tweeted more new information:
Source suggests Isis info re #wwe event may simply be posting it as suggested target for lone wolf @wsbtv
— Mark Winne (@MarkWinneWSB) November 21, 2015
Source– no known active plot re #wwe event @wsbtv
— Mark Winne (@MarkWinneWSB) November 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/MarkWinneWSB/status/668119847461605376
As of right now, this is clearly a developing story with conflicting stories and we’ll bring you more when we have it.
UPDATE: Both the FBI and WWE have released statements on the situation.
