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from the the-information-superhighway-on-the-ocean-floor dept.
Japan is home to an extremely important vessel: it's the ship that lays the trans-oceanic cables that form the backbone of telecommunication, that is, the Internet. Satellites play an increasingly important role in shipping packets, but the bulk of the connections pass through underwater cables.
The laying process involves checking submarine geography to avoid steep rises and falls, and then calculating tide movements and the trajectory of the falling cables in relation to ship speed, the firm said. Only then are the cables laid and buried by the Subaru, which was built in 2000.
The cables, encased in sheaths of rolled metal, are laid and buried deep — at an average of 1,000-1,500 meters below the sea surface — so as not to interfere with fishing vessels. However, the Subaru can lay cables much deeper at 8,000 meters below the waves.
Speaking of backbones, the Internet's backbone - in the protocol sense of the word - remains unfortunately vulnerable. The issue is the Border Gateway Protocol, at the heart of routers everywhere. And its vulnerabilities are not being tackled with a level of effort commensurate with their importance.
Large routers operated by Internet service providers and major corporations use BGP to figure out how to get data between different places. Each of these major routers turns to others like itself—ones operated by other companies—for the information it needs to most efficiently dispatch data to its destination. Companies operating the routers manually choose which other routers theirs will trust.
Unfortunately, BGP doesn't have security mechanisms built in that allow routers to verify the information they are receiving or the identity of the routers providing it. Very bad things can happen when routers spread incorrect information about how to route data, intentionally or otherwise.
That problem has been known for decades. It was the basis of the hacking group L0pht's 1998 claim before Congress that they could take down the Internet in 30 minutes. But incidents that have illuminated BGP's flaws have prodded some security companies to take it more seriously.
Read more about it at Technology Review, who is reporting on one of the important presentations revealed at the 2015 Blackhat Conference earlier this month.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:17PM
I've got one of them subarus, and it steers like a truck.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday August 27 2015, @09:57PM
You bought a Baja?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Baja [wikipedia.org]
I'm so sorry...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MrGuy on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:38PM
is this one story and not two? I guess maybe it was submitted that way, but do we not edit anymore?
How are these two items (the story of a ship that lays transatlantic cables, and a basic internet protocol that might be open to exploit) remotely related?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:42PM
By the magic of "Speaking of backbones", which a valid literary device, but not conducive to a highly coherent discussion.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 27 2015, @06:32PM
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/undersea-cable-network-operates-in-a-state-of-alarm-excerpt/ [scientificamerican.com]
In short - the "standards" aren't standard at all, and the system is held together by voodoo, black magic, and blind faith.
"Operating undersea networks requires this kind of careful interpretive work and a detailed knowledge of the history of cable equipment, skills that cannot be outsourced to computers. Although we might think of digital networks as purely technical, engineers and technicians are the human components in a system carrying 99 percent of transoceanic Internet traffic. If these workers were to disappear, the system would ultimately collapse. We owe the smooth operation of global communications in part to their ability to act quickly and minimize disruptions."
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 27 2015, @08:32PM
Based on the two non-story FA-s, I guess someone tried to make a strength from two weaknesses.
Sort of making a strong backbone from two fractured vertebra - why wonder of the result's quality?
A possible explanation for the "why" question: some [pipedot.org] may have gotten the blues and tried to get some extra clicks? As nobody was hurt in the process, I'd say 'never mind, we are non-perfect humans after all'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:48PM
I have no idea what this post is about.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:55PM
What's with that puny article about how the undersea cables are laid, that's all you could get?
A short googling and you can get much better ones [quora.com], which include photos of cables and equipment, plus surprising info: like the fact that modern cable laying ships can do 200 miles of laid cables/day - being laid and deep dug at sea is easier and cheaper than on land... err... I mean... if you are a cable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Thursday August 27 2015, @06:01PM
... not only that, but the link you provided (thanks!) shows that the actual fibers are encased in petroleum jelly. One supposes that K-Y would not be a good substitute.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @08:00PM
Thanks, your link is clearly much better, since it leads to an actual web page, with text one can read.
The link on the OP, on the other hand, only leads to this bullshit:
I guess checking links before posting them is too much to ask for these days, but you came through and saved the day. Thanks again!
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Friday August 28 2015, @04:32AM
Pretty awesome article. I didn't know this much about the process until I checked it out. One minor correction on your comment: it's up to 200 kilometers per day, not miles.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Thursday August 27 2015, @07:15PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 27 2015, @07:57PM
Buried, under the ocean floor. Cable operators tend to get sullen whenever a fishing boat drags their cable around, or a ship's anchor snags it. In deep water (more than a thousand feet) it isn't a frequent problem, but at shallower depths, even small boats can hang an anchor on a cable. No, they certainly do not want the cables suspended anywhere. I don't know what happens if they cross a narrow underwater canyon - I suppose they'll have a length of exposed cable after all. Or, maybe they just change direction, and lay the cable in the bottom of the canyon unto they can change back to their original heading?
Like most things, is easy to grasp the basic concepts, but the details are probably devilish.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday August 27 2015, @09:48PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by cellocgw on Thursday August 27 2015, @11:42PM
If yr interested, Google around for articles on the repurposing of the USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23). Insecure routers are a minor problem.
Physicist, cellist, former OTTer (1190) resume: https://app.box.com/witthoftresume
(Score: 4, Informative) by goody on Friday August 28 2015, @01:18AM
No, they don't. Satellite can be used for Internet access, mainly in remote areas, but it's not suited at all for high speed backbone connections due to latency and they have a fraction of the bandwidth that a multi-strand fiber optic cable has.