Reports of 5th undersea 'net cable cut
Bruce Schneier comments on the increasingly odd, developing story about mysteriously cut transoceanic communications cables (also covered here on Boing Boing). He also points to reports of a fifth cable being cut. Commenters on Schneier's blog, and Schneier, seem to doubt this is the result of a coordinated malicious attack. The only other theory Boing Boing readers seem to agree on is coordinated malicious attacks by sea monsters.
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At the five severed links mark, you have to wonder if there is something going on. A couple could just be a fluke, but this many seems awfully deliberate.
To me, the strangest aspect of this story is that there's no whisper of this story in the major media outlets. (dotso.com)
"[A]nd when the seventh line is severed, and the world plunged into darkness [...] then shall arise Leviathan"
-Abdul Alhazred, Necronomicon
A few folks on Slashdot are reporting that only a single router has gone down, and that Iran still has connectivity, which means that the cable probably hasn't been cut, nor any significant amount of connectivity lost.
That's not to say that the other four cable outages aren't troubling, but I'd likely write this one off as a coincidence.
One of the greatest intelligence coups of the cold war was the US nuclear submarines literally wire tapping into the transatlantic cables.
I suspect this is a like operation.
Could be Iran - they have Diesel Submarines
Could be US - Our SSN is bored and need a mission since thay can no longer chase after Capt Ramius.
But to what end. The war between the islamic fundie and the western world is fought on a couple of fronts. (Agree with it or not I am just speaking to the fact it exists)
With the internet the Fundies are really doing quite well on the propaganda front.
If it was the US I would guess it is an attempt to interdict into that front. Cut em off would be a bit heavy handed. I think the more elegant thing would be to tap and fine out where they are or better yet hax the packets.
Saddly we will likely never no the truth
*insert picture of sea monster here*
I can has undersea cable? Nom nom nom...
Possible Causes listed in order of probability:
1. Accidents, there are tons of repairs a year, in a random distribution sooner or later 5 will "clump" closer.
2. IPv6 updates gone wrong (little bit of 1 and a little bit of 2 even more likely)
3. Anti-western action (co-ordinated simultaneous attacks is an AlQaeda trademark isn't it?)
4. I would have said US tapping (damage one place, tap another while it's down) but you can split live fibre can't you? re: AT&T NSA splitting
5. Industrial sabotage US destablisation of new Iranian Oil Bourse opening in a couple of days. US spied on Airbus to help Boeing, and against a hostile nation/economic order it's not that dramatic. It's clear a change to euros will hit the US hard, and it's coming at the worst possible time when the currency needs confidence. Also comes on the back of Bin Laden speaking about bankrupting the US last week.
6. Cutting communications before an attack, the rest will be hit via air strikes. Bush has no "political capital" to do this, but he doesn't have an impeachment or a re-election to face, so why not?
7. Dolphins.
8. Sea Monsters other than Dolphins.
GreatMiddlewest:
it was in my sleepy local onesheet, the new york times, two days ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/business/worldbusiness/04cnd-cable.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I vote #7. "Fa love Pa", my ass.
Clearly the internet is committing suicide.
The aliens have been studying and updating John Wyndham...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kraken_Wakes
I used to work at Sprint in international LDD and we'd get cable cuts all the time. Never 5 though, I think it's Brittney Spears lashing out again.
My co-worker just found these. The first is from a Russian news site:
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12301090&PageNum=5
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/bushehr.htm
Our Half-Cracked Theory:
The check just cleared for the last batch of Nuclear Fuel. The Russians have their money, so that gives the US the green light for their new covert war against Iran without the Russians getting pissed. Lets cut some internets!!
#12: oops, she did it again?
I'm putting my money on Dagon and his army of deep ones.
I think it's the trade federation.
A communications disruption can mean only one thing: invasion.
its totally something evolving down there.
read "songs of distant earth" by arthur c clarke
could even be 8 or 9 cables cut
http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/ConnectingTheDots.htm
Capt Nemo!
He's not dead, he's just been waiting.
R'lyeh has FIOS now...
The cover of darkness is coming tomorrow! It's going down. for reals.
http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/
...Kids, it's obviously another JJ Abrams "viral marketing" campaign for the sequel to The Blair Witch Godzilla Project :)
we better get steve zissou investigating this asap.
sum.zero
@sum.zero: I second that!
People, people!!!
I think the obvious answer is right in front of us at the start of the post!
Clearly, someone is sending encrypted packets over these lines, and Mr. Schneier is cracking them so hard, in such a sheer *brute force* attack, that the cables are snapping under the strain!!!
Or it's Cthulhu on vacation... =)
I wonder if this is a precursor to something really major going down. It really brings out the crazy speculation in me when a huge thing like this takes place and the mainstream news doesn't catch it and blow it up.
@ #25: Or maybe it's Chuck Norris e-mailing people...!
Not cut.
Skynet.
Tune in Monday nights on Fox...
TPC is floating test balloons and are almost ready to make their move. (Cue ominous Lalo Schifrin music.)
I am going with North Korea, owners of the largest submarine navy.
Timed to coincide with the launch of the Iranian Oil Borse on the 11th, and with the anniversary of their revolution...
This would appear to be an act of covert war-fare by either the US or Israel.
I believe, the hope by the perpetrator, is that Iran will retaliate. This would be labeled an "unprovoked attack" and result in full scale war. I doubt Iran will take the bait.
BTW, while there might be some connectivity to Iran, there are other servers there down as well, it is not just the ITR server failing to respond.
And, wtf would North Korea or "al Qaeda" want to cut mid-east internet access? While leaving Israel and US occupied Iraq relatively unharmed?
Also, 4-7 cables severed all in one area of the world. That is not events clustering togather, it is not coincidence or a "sea-monster". It is very clearly an intentional act of sabotage by someone.
I assume it's spammers inserting some kind of megarouter in rather clumsy fashion. After all, as long as there is still a single non-spam-related packet floating around somewhere, their mission is incomplete.
RIAA - the latest strategy?
Or a cover for downtime that was necessary to re-route the cables through the data-mining farm.
Downtime while the cables get re-routed to a U.S. data mining center.
my gods.... what if it is all about advertising.....
Increasingly dissatisfied with over-long excuses and prolonged delays in their wait for DSL connections, the crab people have taken matters into their own hands and assured themselves the fastest internet connections on the planet.
@31 - "Also, 4-7 cables severed all in one area of the world. That is not events clustering together, it is not coincidence or a "sea-monster". It is very clearly an intentional act of sabotage by someone."
Thank you. I think this is very important, and gets pushed to the side too often. When 1-2 go down...Yes, it could be any of the above. When 3-4 go down...something fishy is going on, and it needs to be investigated. When 5-more go down...this is deliberate.
And what does an invading force usually do right before invasion? They sever lines of communication so the world doesn't know exactly what's going on when they invade.
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. 4+ times is in the realm of implausible deniability.
Seriously though, maybe they're just crappy cables. (Made in China anyone?)
Is anyone here old enough to remember the day when the power NEVER went out during blizzards? To my recollection that didn't start until the late 1980's
@#6...Talia
my photoshop for the day. good idea.
http://www.benjamindewhurst.com/godzilla_kills_internet.jpg
is the destruction of an Iranian Oil Bourse reason enough to precipitate a global; economic depression?
I think this is the real reason.
I would like to know how many cable cuts occurred last year. Their distribution in time and space. Only then can I tell whether the recent "spate" of cable cuts is normal or not.
I don't see why cutting the internet to Iran would be seen as an attack on Iran. The people who MOST want to cut off internet access to the Iranian people is the Iranian government and religious leaders, who see the internet as a threat. Iran does have 6 Kilo class submarines, too, so they have the capability and the motive.
Evidence of motive:
Iran bans fast internet
Maybe they just figured out a handy way to ban it completely without causing riots in the streets, since they can pretend it's someone else's fault. Those dirty Israelis and/or Americans, for example.
The US and Israel have the capability but I can't imagine the motive. I think most anti-western internet propoganda comes out of Syria, Iraq and California, not Iran. The better access the Iranian people have to the internet, I think the safer we all are. When the Iranian people have no idea what their government is up to, that's when I'd start to worry.
If the Irani government wishes to limit the internet in Iran, they walk over to the routers and turn them off. Cutting cables is hardly needed. There is lots already going on Iran more likely to instigate riots that web blocking.
I can imagine a great deal of motive for the USA and Israel. You were kidding, right?
oh shit, it's the New World Order!
cone. of. silence.
@16 - brilliant!
Obviously, the Interwebs have been so badly clogged by international music and video pirates that they have burst under the load. When will we get serious and begin executing these godless criminals?
I'm with Dillenger69. Why has no one YouTubed that line from Phantom Menace? That sound bite should be in everybody's ears.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0120915/quotes
"A communications disruption could mean only one thing: invasion."
Pretty concise.
I bet it's Comcast.
You wanted undersea monster LOL?
You got it. Check this out
http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?128469717112500000.jpg
Fools! How can you not see it? It's clearly cetacean terrorists acting in retaliation for the recent changes in US Naval sonar usage. We're messing with their communications and they're responding in kind. All those dolphins we've trained to act as military tools are taking their revenge on our communication infrastructure.
We just need to get the word to our underwater brothers and sisters that the courts aren't going to let it happen
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402612.html) and this mysterious cabling problem will disappear until the Navy conducts secret tests of it anyway.