One important question that I'm unclear on is how long it takes to fix one of these cables. If it takes months then that is quite a wide window in which an attacker could incrementally take down cables.
amelius 2 hours ago [-]
They could even blow up all cables at once. Maybe the explosives have already been placed.
booi 2 hours ago [-]
Generally it can be fixed in days. They raise it from the sea floor and splice in a new cable section.
mistyvales 2 hours ago [-]
Crazy that you can splice optical cable..
UltraSane 1 hours ago [-]
They actually have very cool devices that will automatically align and fuse two fibers and estimate the loss of the bond.
True, but splicing without leaving behind a powered repeater is different from the final termination with active electronics on the end.
It's pretty cool tech
dgfitz 8 minutes ago [-]
I’m saying you can terminate cleanly without needing a repeater.
To be clear, I’m saying to terminate each end of the cut cable to a terminating device that continues the flow of light, not just the termination at the beginning/end of the line. Sorry if that wasn’t obvious.
In this particular case, it seems like the attackers were trying for plausible deniability (making it look like an accident with an anchor). A comprehensive series of "accidents" wouldn't fit that goal.
(And if they decide they don't care about plausible deniability, they could use sub-deployed timed mines to take out every cable at once.)
alisonatwork 1 hours ago [-]
Even if these "accidents" are a state sponsored (or at least condoned) action, it seems certain states have realized they can happen over and over again without consequences[0].
The frustrating part of this kind of petty tactic is that bullies can do just enough to annoy and inconvenience their targets, while never quite doing enough to make it worth expending the political capital to hold them to account. From the bully's perspective there's no downside. And if legitimate accidents or rogue actions get portrayed as deliberate then all the better - that just reinforces the bully's reputation as an actor to be feared while further eroding trust in the international institutions that may one day challenge it.
In an actual war, you hit the repair equipment and personnel [1].
(As to the Geneva Conventions note, we're discussing a hypothetical war with Russia. The status quo, including rules of war, are going to be rewritten by the victors.)
Shhh, or somebody will realize how much slack there is in the system (for very good reasons, as evidenced here) and "optimize" it away...
lexlambda 3 hours ago [-]
Can anyone explain why there wasn't any BGP activity on the Finland-Germany systems when the cable broke, while for Lithuania there was a massive spike?
Unfortunately it's been a long time since I learned about BGP, if anyone could help out here I'd be grateful.
wmf 2 hours ago [-]
Each BGP hop represents an ISP so when an ISP reroutes traffic internally there's no need for changes to external BGP announcements. Clearly ISPs in the Baltic region have multiple paths and don't depend on any one cable.
ChoHag 39 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
Rendered at 01:36:44 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_C0XLLyR0
It's pretty cool tech
To be clear, I’m saying to terminate each end of the cut cable to a terminating device that continues the flow of light, not just the termination at the beginning/end of the line. Sorry if that wasn’t obvious.
"Sabatoge" and repair is discussed at 11:45
(And if they decide they don't care about plausible deniability, they could use sub-deployed timed mines to take out every cable at once.)
The frustrating part of this kind of petty tactic is that bullies can do just enough to annoy and inconvenience their targets, while never quite doing enough to make it worth expending the political capital to hold them to account. From the bully's perspective there's no downside. And if legitimate accidents or rogue actions get portrayed as deliberate then all the better - that just reinforces the bully's reputation as an actor to be feared while further eroding trust in the international institutions that may one day challenge it.
[0] https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5677668
In an actual war, you hit the repair equipment and personnel [1].
(As to the Geneva Conventions note, we're discussing a hypothetical war with Russia. The status quo, including rules of war, are going to be rewritten by the victors.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_tap_strike
Unfortunately it's been a long time since I learned about BGP, if anyone could help out here I'd be grateful.