Backbone Infrastructure and Secrecy

Tue Jul 8 16:02:23 UTC 2003

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003, Adam Kujawski wrote:

> Who, besides Sean, has maps like this? The state PUC? If
> so, is that information available to the public? Do you
> have to go thorugh a background check and/or sign an
> NDA? Or is it only the providers themselves that have
> the maps for this stuff?

It sounds to me like the secret is more that 25 carriers all
use the same fiber bundle, and told their customers
otherwise ("we have dual entrances to 123 Anystreet, on our 
own fiber").

Is it really any secret where the telco hotels are
(http://www.carrierhotels.com) or where the incubent's CO's
are (your local account team will happily show you a map)?

Yes, this stuff takes time to assemble. How long does it
take to coordinate 4 simultaneous plane hijackings?

This is yet another case of keeping incredibly useful
information from the people who could most use it (I'm sure
the financial industry really appreciated finding out how
vulnerable they are) to defend themselves, and make their
vendors and government accountable, while assuming that the
Bad Guys are too stupid to figure out how to get the
information themselves.

So, instead, we will all continue to blindly buy "redundant"  
infrastructure that uses the same fiber bundles, because we
don't have the information to make a more intelligent
choice. Just makes it easier for a terrorist to do his job.

Pete.