Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes!

Thu Apr 9 22:04:16 UTC 2009

Seriously though I want to start some discussion around outside plant 
protection. This isn't the middle of the ocean or desert after all.

There were multiple fiber cuts in a major metropolitan area, resulting 
in the loss of critical infrastructure necessary to many peoples daily 
lives (though twitter stayed up so it's all good). :) It would appear 
that this was a deliberate act by one or more individuals, who seemed to 
have a very good idea of where to strike which resulted in a low cost, 
low effort attack that yielded significant results.

So allow me to think out loud for a minute....

1) Why wasn't the fiber protected by some sort of hardened/locked 
conduit? Is this possible? Does it add extensive cost or hamper normal 
operation?

2) Why didn't an alarm go off that someone had entered the area? It was 
after business hours, presumably not in response to a trouble ticket, 
and as such a highly suspicious action. Does it make sense for these 
access portals to have some sort of alarm? I mean there is fiber running 
through and as such it could carry the signaling. Would this be a 
massive cost addition during construction?

3) From what I understand it's not trivial to raise a manhole cover. 
Most likely can't be done by one person. Can they be locked? Or were the 
carriers simply relying on obscurity/barrier to entry?