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posted by LaminatorX on Thursday July 02 2015, @08:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the dark-fiber dept.

USA Today reports that the FBI is investigating at least 11 physical attacks on high-capacity Internet cables in California's San Francisco Bay Area dating back to at least July 6, 2014, including one early this week. "When it affects multiple companies and cities, it does become disturbing," says Special Agent Greg Wuthrich. "We definitely need the public's assistance." The pattern of attacks raises serious questions about the glaring vulnerability of critical Internet infrastructure, says JJ Thompson. "When it's situations that are scattered all in one geography, that raises the possibility that they are testing our capabilities, response times and impact," says Thompson. "That is a security person's nightmare."

Mark Peterson, a spokesman for Internet provider Wave Broadband, says an unspecified number of Sacramento-area customers were knocked offline by the latest attack. Peterson characterized the Tuesday attack as "coordinated" and said the company was working with Level 3 and Zayo to restore service. It's possible the vandals were dressed as telecommunications workers to avoid arousing suspicion, say FBI officials. Backup systems help cushion consumers from the worst of the attacks, meaning people may notice slower email or videos not playing, but may not have service completely disrupted. But repairs are costly and penalties are not stiff enough to deter would-be vandals. "There are flags and signs indicating to somebody who wants to do damage: This is where it is folks," says Richard Doherty. "It's a terrible social crime that affects thousands and millions of people."


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Snotnose on Thursday July 02 2015, @01:13PM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday July 02 2015, @01:13PM (#204212)

    Back in the 80s and 90s when the internet was just getting it's legs under it, it was common for large areas to go dark because a backhoe operator cut through the T3 lines. I remember at one time, after a certain area had a few of these outages, someone asked "Have you guys ever heard of a fallback path?" Turns out they had, but the subcontractor had laid both independent cables in the same trench so both got knocked out at the same time.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by darnkitten on Friday July 03 2015, @02:41AM

    by darnkitten (1912) on Friday July 03 2015, @02:41AM (#204523)

    I'd vote for Grey's law as well--

    Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.