Russian diplomats lingering near fiber optic cables

Thu Jun 1 18:32:28 UTC 2017

DO NOT ANCHOR OR DREDGE is a pretty good indicator.

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 11:05 AM, Jared Mauch <jared at puck.nether.net> wrote:
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>> On Jun 1, 2017, at 2:02 PM, Sean Donelan <sean at donelan.com> wrote:
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>> There must be a perfectly logical explanation....  Yes, people in the industry know where the choke points are. But the choke points aren't always the most obvious places. Its kinda a weird for diplomats to show up there.
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>> On the other hand, I've been a fiber optic tourist.  I've visited many critical choke points in the USA and other countries, and even took selfies :-)
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>>
>> http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003
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>> In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be tracked by the State Department, were going missing.
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>> The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One was found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official, another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert. Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic cables tend to run.
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>> According to another U.S. intelligence official, “They find these guys driving around in circles in Kansas. It’s a pretty aggressive effort.”
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>> It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude that the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to disrupt it.
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> Seems it would be easier to just pay for a subscription to a service like FiberLocator or similar.
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> They could just dial 811 as well and request the locates happen.
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> - Jared