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

Fri Apr 10 15:48:14 UTC 2009

Its all risk and cost. You possibly couldn't have spent enough to stop
this event. The outside plant wasn't at fault, highly motivated and
informed individuals were. Pretty much a non issue, IMHO.

Best,

Martin

On 4/9/09, Charles Wyble <charles at thewybles.com> wrote:
> 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?
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Martin Hannigan                               martin at theicelandguy.com
p: +16178216079
Power, Network, and Costs Consulting for Iceland Datacenters and Occupants