Feeling vulnerable? Maybe you should. Apparently, taking down the Internet, ATMs, and landline and wireless phone services is as easy as crawling down a few strategically located manholes and hacking through some fiber optic cables. Police in California suspect exactly that after "vandals" cut a total of 10 fiber optic cables (each containing between 48 and 360 fibers) at 4 locations on Thursday morning. The AT&T and Sprint cables knocked "tens of thousands" of San Francisco, Bay Area residents off the grid including an additional 52,000 Verizon landline and wireless customers. San Jose spokesman, Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, says that Vandals somehow managed to thwart the safeguards securing this important element of the US infrastructure. "The manhole covers are heavy," he said, "and would take quite an effort to lift, perhaps even requiring a tool." Amazing. There's been plenty of speculation that disgruntled members of the Communication Workers of America union are to blame after its contract with AT&T expired amid "strike-threatened contract negotiations" over the weekend -- something CWA officials adamantly deny. And they should... everyone knows that
kidnapping corporate bosses is the hot new trend for curing the gruntles. AT&T is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the vandals.
[Via
SFGate]
Update: Seems that reward is now
up to $250,000. Tempting, no?
posted April 10th 2009 3:10AM
WTH....
I wonder if they'd pay a person if they turned themselves in. *calls the info hotline* "Yeah I did it. Deduct it from the amount you're going to sue me. Thanks."
It takes less and less to be a terrorist these days....
All you need is a budget branch trimmer from home depot and start snippin wires in the night....
Back in the day we had to WORK to raise terror.
Bah.....young people these days. Just look at these news reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_OIXfkXEj0&feature=player_embedded
Damn it! Where's my towel?
Vandalism.... Don't talk to me about vandalism.... Brain the size of a planet and ...
Galifornia
LEET HAX
SWEET FAX
GREET MAX
FEET WAX?
neat tacks?!
EX-LAX
BARE BACKS
everybody run!
Fleetwood Mac!
MEAT CRACKS
BUTT CRAX
This crap is why I can't read comments on failblog. Take all this crap there.
Comments like this is the only reason i i read engadget lol
NICE RACKS
FLAP JACKS
BALL SACKS
Meat rack
greasy back
sleasy hack
Manhole covers usually require a specific tool to pull them up, but that is not security. A LOCKED DOOR IS SECURITY. These cables are probably just behind an unlocked panel underground, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Yeah, I agree totally. This isn't "24"; stuff this important shouldn't be this easy to get into.
that tool is often called a crow bar or a pipe
Yeah I was about to say...... A good crowbar will get you into a ton of things.... Someone will know youve been there but yeah........ I mean Gordon Freeman is a pretty clear example....
Yep here we go again .. Alligators in the sewer.
Wow, dick move.
Totally, party foul. Dude.
Did they really have to use such an huge, obnoxious picture?
It would make sense if you knew where it came from.
I know where it comes from, and it makes perfect sense to me.
It's still a huge, obnoxious picture, though.
It didn't even make sense to DNA himself, who AFAIK hated that image to death.
It probably took 42 people from the Communication Workers of America union to lift those manhole covers.
the only "tool" they needed? a towel.
It's a wonder they didn't get caught, what with all the 15-minute breaks..
A series of tubes, protected by.. a manhole cover. Bummer.
I didn't imagine it's easy to just cut 10 fiber optic cables at once, what happen if they would cut 100? Blackout USA.
Ah, this makes more sense now. Yesterday at my mother's workplace, nobody could make or receive calls, and my former high school had no Internet the entire day. Strangely enough though, my house is only a few blocks away from the high school, and the Internet here has been fine all day.
I was in the supposed area of effect. Only reason I knew about it was I read about it online. Hah.
You cannot beat the internet.
Do they not have a backup line for such a critical system?
They cut the backups
HACK THE PLANET
No way - Don't try to hack the planet.
The mantle alone is over 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and has 128-bit security encryption!
"at 4 locations on Thursday morning"
To call them "Vandals" is taking them too lightly. If they did it on 4 locations, I have a feeling that they knew what they were looking for... and probably did for a purpose. Let's say, test the system... or hide someone's else actions on the Internet or something that could be reported through the communications: alarm systems, etc.
To me, they are closer to "terrorists" and they will... strike again. :|
I'd say they're more likely to be people that want to make a point of physical security of Fibers.
cutting 4 is enough to make a statement, but the fact that some people still had Internet makes me think they could have done more if they wanted to.
Then again a security system would have to be so universal, that any fiber maintenance person from any company can get easy access.
This would mean that the keys to this systtem hang from every fiber engineer's keychain and get 'lost' quite easily.
Security by obscurity is no security, but what security /is/ required?
Also, keep in mind that vital services are probably hooked into a seperate, slightly-more-redundant, infrastructure.
Um, yeah, Jon..I'd say that's pretty much the definition of a terrorist. WTF are you, Obama's towel boy?
Terrorist is sooooo pre-crisis... what about Rebel or Revolutionary (too politically specific !?!) ...
Personally I think Vandal is a good start... nice one Eng.
Jon has a point (immature namecalling aside); terrorism usually invokes terror, not frustration at your internet being down. Still, cutting emergency communication elevates them to a point above 'vandal' in my book.
Win.