Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Infowarfare with a set of cutters
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 06:09:07 -0500
From: hannigan () xcom net (Martin Hannigan) Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 19:37:57 GMT Organization: XCOM Technologies - Data Engineering Reply-To: hannigan () xcom net Considering I've gotten about 2 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, plus the flu, I can attest to the massive outage caused by an apparent disgruntled employee. 1200 strands, 3 OC48's and multiple OC10s taken out with cutters, deliberately and maliciously. On the OC48 they took out the primary AND the protect ring dissolving their redundancy. And they did cut in multiple locations. Everyone has at least one single point of failure that can cause a massive outage. :) Whether you've identified it or not, it's there. Regards, Martin Hannigan hannigan () xcom net Director - Data Networks V:617.500.0108 XCOM Technologies, INC. F:617.500.0002 ------------------------ Then, this report from the newspapers Wednesday: Excerpted from {The Boston Globe}, Nov. 12, 1997, page B3... Vandalism disrupts phones, cable TV: Lines are severed in several towns by Joann Muller, Globe Staff About 40,000 Greater Boston homeowners lost their cable TV service and 350 businesses lost telephone service over parts of three days after an apparent rash of vandalism that began Saturday. Media One, the region's largest cable operator, and Teleport Communications Group, a long-distance phone company, said their services were disrupted Saturday night, early Sunday, and Monday evening after vandals apparently climbed at least eight utility poles and cut the companies' one-inch-thick fiber cables. The two companies, whose cables share a fiber optic conduit, offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals. Media One spokesman Rick Jenkinson said he believes his company was the target of the sabotage, because many of the incidents occurred near Media One buildings or facilities. The sabotage began at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday when someone climbed a pole in Woburn and cut a bundle of fiber cables, Jenkinson said. Customers in surrounding communities were affected, he said, but service was restored within an hour and 15 minutes. About six hours later, similar incidents occurred in Needham and Newton, he said. Then, at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, five more cables were cut in Natick, Dedham, and Needham. About 26,000 Media One customers were affected over the weekend, he said, and another 18,000 on Monday evening. All cable customers received a one-day credit for the lost service. Teleport's phone customers weren't affected much, said spokeswoman Donna Suky, because the outages occurred over the weekend or after hours when most of the businesses were closed. The phone lines were back on before most customers even knew there was a problem, she said. Both companies said they have extensive backup systems that enabled them to restore service quickly. The companies have set up a toll-free, confidential hot line (800-298-9790, ext. 8120) for tips about the vandalism. State and local police from several communities are investigating. Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company. ************************************************** "Photons have neither morals nor visas" -- Dave Farber 1994 **************************************************
Current thread:
- IP: Infowarfare with a set of cutters Dave Farber (Nov 14)