nanog mailing list archives
Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes!
From: "Patrick W. Gilmore" <patrick () ianai net>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 20:43:11 -0400
On Apr 9, 2009, at 6:04 PM, Charles Wyble 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?
This was supposedly an inside job, and I even heard the cabinets were locked. How do you stop an employee with the key from opening a lock? (See #2.)
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?
Possibly, and yes.
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?
Probably, and who knows?How much did this cost the telcos involved? Probably nearly nothing. How much would it cost them to do what you suggest in #2? Probably 1,000,000 times nearly nothing, _at_least_. Guess what the telcos involved will choose? Hell, you would too in their place.
-- TTFN, patrick
Current thread:
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes!, (continued)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! JC Dill (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Ravi Pina (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! deleskie (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Joel Jaeggli (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Randy Fischer (Apr 10)
- Fwd: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Paul Ferguson (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! JC Dill (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Valdis . Kletnieks (Apr 10)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! JC Dill (Apr 09)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Robert Glover (Apr 10)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Shane Ronan (Apr 10)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Andy Ringsmuth (Apr 10)
- RE: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Jamie Bowden (Apr 13)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Dan Armstrong (Apr 13)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! David Storandt (Apr 10)
- Re: Outside plant protection, fiber cuts, interwebz down oh noes! Owen DeLong (Apr 10)