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

[martin at theicelandguy.com (Martin Hannigan)]

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