[Sailorsam]

http://time.com/3942941/cutting-internet-cables/

***The FBI is investigating a mysterious string of attacks on fiber optic cables in the San Francisco Bay area, including one that severely disrupted Internet service at numerous businesses and residential buildings Tuesday morning.

At least 11 physical attacks on these cables have occurred in at least 10 Bay area cities — such as Fremont, Berkeley, San Jose, and Walnut Creek — over the last year, dating back to at least July 6, 2014, FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich told USA Today. “When it affects multiple companies and cities, it does become disturbing,” Wuthrich said. “We definitely need the public’s assistance."***

more infrastructure to worry about.
practice runs for future monkey wrenching? Or just Kalifornia kooks?

"The latest attack, which happened at 4.20 a.m. PT on Tuesday, was particularly alarming as it appeared to have been a concerted strike on three Internet cables belonging to wholesalers Level 3 and Zayo."

'concerted', meaning team effort, on three cables.
wondering how vulnerable

"According to Wuthrich, the acts happened in remote areas unmonitored by cameras, and perhaps by vandals dressed as utility workers who have accessed the underground vaults containing the cables."

anyone here live in a 'remote area'?

 

[The Old Coach]

Vandals are getting more and more sophisticated. My money would be on that. There's a gazillion malcontents in the Bay area who believe that living in the 18th century like the noble savages is the way to be. They used to be called Luddites.

But trial runs for a major Chinese or Islamist attack can't be ruled out.

Nor can the possibility that there's a way to profit from the outage. Disabling monitoring systems to enable burglaries, for example.

 

[BingoFuelUSN]

Vandals are getting more and more sophisticated. My money would be on that. There's a gazillion malcontents in the Bay area who believe that living in the 18th century like the noble savages is the way to be. They used to be called Luddites.

But trial runs for a major Chinese or Islamist attack can't be ruled out.

Nor can the possibility that there's a way to profit from the outage. Disabling monitoring systems to enable burglaries, for example.

I live out here in the SV and my bet is on a few disenfranchised groups who see the rate of technical progress as being a bad thing for society. It may also be performed by those who have historically lived in the area, not in the tech industry and are being displaced by the meteoric increases in rents and housing prices as the pay grade of techies outclasses those in traditional industries. For example, rents in SF for a two bedroom apartment are frequently jumping from $1500/mo to $5000/mo.
An alternate thought is that one or more sophisticated groups are testing the causal effect of which fiber feed affects what facility or neighborhood, with the intent of something more significant to occur in the future.
B

 

[BrianWorf]

Vandals are getting more and more sophisticated. My money would be on that. There's a gazillion malcontents in the Bay area who believe that living in the 18th century like the noble savages is the way to be. They used to be called Luddites.

But trial runs for a major Chinese or Islamist attack can't be ruled out.

Nor can the possibility that there's a way to profit from the outage. Disabling monitoring systems to enable burglaries, for example.

THIS. I worked splicing cables that had been cut during Christmas Eve and Christmas one year by burglars looking to silence alarms to heist jewelry stores.

 

[tsd1]

The amount of fiber crossing the Golden Gate bridge is amazing.

 

[tsd1]

Not well protected either.

 

[Gray Man]

The DHS wants to video tape my face at every stoplight but, they do not have a camera at sites that have been repeatedly violated. Funny that.

 

[usmc0331]

The Anti-Technology crowd maybe? They`ve been known to carry out physical attacks. Remember Ted Kazinsky? That was his whole beef.

 

[William Warren]

Vandals are getting more and more sophisticated. My money would be on that. There's a gazillion malcontents in the Bay area who believe that living in the 18th century like the noble savages is the way to be. They used to be called Luddites.

But trial runs for a major Chinese or Islamist attack can't be ruled out.

Nor can the possibility that there's a way to profit from the outage. Disabling monitoring systems to enable burglaries, for example.

Maybe it's just me, but I bet we'll find out it's some kids trying to steal "copper" and not realizing that it's fiber instead. A good thing, too: there are photos on the net of what can happen when someone tries to cut into a cable that had high-voltage on it.

William Warren

 

[anmut]

I hate to be the guy with the thick tinfoil, but I'm betting that this is more of a test of reaction time than anything. I'm bias this way because of the April 2013 attack on the sub station also involved taking out comms first as well as the desert fiber cable that was located first, then cut with heavy machinery.

I really believe that we'll look back on these stories and think "we should have known better..."

 

[Draqwraith]

Could some of this attack actually been damage from the 48 hour earth quakes
? Seems to me if you stretch those cables long enough they would break.

 

[franklin]

Could some of this attack actually been damage from the 48 hour earth quakes
? Seems to me if you stretch those cables long enough they would break.

Would be immediately obvious to repair crews.

 

[Batty]

An Internet server farm in Colorado had its cables cut the other day as well. Three separate places. I will try to find the link.

 

[Sailorsam]

FBI investigates
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2487154,00.asp

"In this week's attack, someone reportedly broke into an underground vault and snipped three fiber-optic cables belonging to Colorado-based service providers Level 3 and Zayo, resulting in outages for business and residents customers in and around Sacramento. That was just the latest in a string of similar attacks dating back to at least July 6, 2014 and reaching as far as Arizona."

definitely sounds like enemy action.
rooting for gummint FBI on this one!

 

[MI.oldguy]

Thought this happened in Arizona a while back too.

 

[Sailorsam]

An Internet server farm in Colorado had its cables cut the other day as well. Three separate places. I will try to find the link.

I think that's this incident. the company is hq in Colorado, the vandalism was in Cali.

 

[strokes762]

I hate to be the guy with the thick tinfoil, but I'm betting that this is more of a test of reaction time than anything. I'm bias this way because of the April 2013 attack on the sub station also involved taking out comms first as well as the desert fiber cable that was located first, then cut with heavy machinery.

I really believe that we'll look back on these stories and think "we should have known better..."

I remember that, it appeared like at least one trained gunman right? That type of coordination or even a lone wolf attack would take lots of training and experience.

With that said I'm willing to more than likely rule out amateurs for cutting these telecom fibers.

 

[Astronomy]

In the world of military Unconventional Warfare operations, after training small groups of people to conduct Direct Action raids, you direct your newly trained (but relatively inexperienced force) against simple targets. Relatively undefended and remote enough to not draw a rapid armed response.

That kind of mission is called a Confidence Target. A real mission but w/ training wheels still attached.

It's a milk run where the practitioners have a high probability of success and low probability of death or capture. It allows that nascent force the chance to practice the mechanics & timing of a raid. Which serves as invaluable rehearsal for later more complicated kinetic operations.

Traditionally (dating back to WWII), unattended things like railway lines, POL pipelines, small bridges/tunnels, or electric transformer substations were standard fare. In modern times, microwave towers, fiber optic arrays, telephone switch gear, server farms, pumping stations, and satellite communications dishes are also profitable and nearly indefensible targets.

All the functional organization and operational phases of a raiding force get to be practiced during one of these. Security, Support by Fire, Assault Force, Specialty Teams, and Command & Control functions get exercised. Intelligence Collection, Targeting, Mission Planning, Rehearsals, Infiltration, Surveillance, Leader's Reconnaissance, Actions on the Objective, Withdrawal, Exfiltration, AAR, etc. are all conducted.

Whoever is doing it has a progressive training plan in play. One with long range goals and future intent. The folks doing it may or may not be professionals, but at this point, they aren't complete amateurs either. At least one person with experience is running them through their paces.

I hope it's just some simple eco-terrorists or non-lethal monkey wrenchers with a corporate axe to grind. But it smells like something worse. It smells like folks sharpening their operational edge for future employment. First you attack things. Later, after achieving competence at that, you move on to attacking people. It's the teaching/learning process used by pros who aren't suicidal ideological cases. Folks who want to both inflict damage but also live to fight another day.

 

[OR2AZ]

Here in Malheur County Oregon, our Century Link internet has been out all day, at least as early as 8:30am. No explanation, just a message that says they're working to restore service. We have never had an interuption this long. Coincidence???
Can anyone check into it for me? My phone has spotty service and it's hot from use. Thanks!

Edit: So, it's back on, and when I googled Centurylink outages, there were quite a few recent ones in the results, including the one in AZ that was mentioned above.

 

[Colt]

Just snipping the cables isn't all that effective. A day or two of outage. Instead, snip it and then tap in and send a high intensity light down the cable to burn out the optical receptors. That should keep it down for a while.

Anyway, I think Astronomy is pretty spot on. Here's to hopping it's just monkey wrenchers and not someone who's going to escalate this to something that actually gets people killed.