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