3 ms·

>Today's undersea cables are optical. You'd need to splice in, or at least open up a cable to get at the individual fibers to install similar taps. I cannot see

by Jerry2 10y ago

>Today's undersea cables are optical. You'd need to splice in, or at least open up a cable to get at the individual fibers to install similar taps. I cannot see how that would be done in the pressurized world of submarines. That's an excellent point but I think they have a way to lift the cable off the seabed and make a splice even though it's hard. NSA are masters of making the impossible work. What I can't figure out is how they collect the data. These optical cables carry tens of terabits of data per second so how do you store & transmit it back for analysis? I'm guessing they filter some of it but you still end up with lots of bits.

coldtea 10y ago
>NSA are masters of making the impossible work. Citation needed. And not Hollywood movies.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  It's been well documented that as far back as 1971, the NSA & Navy was tapping cables under the Sea of Okhotsk. Sounds pretty impossible to me.
gscott 10y ago
I believe the data goes through some friendly countries where we can get to it easier.
- Jerry2 10y ago
  Do you think they lay another cable from the tap to some collection point or do they use radio waves? Or maybe they just record the data and then just collect it by a surface ship or a sub every month...
  - seanp2k2 10y ago
    Radios don't work so well underwater. This is why subs have various radio masts that poke above the surface. They stay just below the water with the antennas dry for the most part. It's be much easier to mess with routing (in secret or not) and capture data at another point.
  - gscott 10y ago
    They do a splitter in datacenters to the NSA so I presume that is similar many fiber optic wires. From what I understand is that the submarine has to stay there to collect the data. So I presume they split it and have a cable they connect to it that routes it right to the sub. However I think Hawaii is a big NSA station because a lot of those international lines right through near there. I wonder if they could split the stream and run a whole cable back to Hawaii with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slide-you-havent-seen/2013/07/10/32801426-e8e6-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slid... https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/55_201110-ISS-IAD-T1-GLIMMERGLASS.pdf https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/55_201110-ISS-IAD-T1-...
digler999 10y ago
> so how do you store & transmit it back for analysis? complete guess, but probably just chop it and quickly install another "repeater" that does everything the existing repeaters do, in addition to copying the information into their own system. Now, how do they filter out and find what they're looking for ? who knows. probably run a secondary fiber line to an underwater "server room" and/or to a buoy with an antenna for remote control ?

by Jerry2 10y ago

coldtea 10y ago

>NSA are masters of making the impossible work. Citation needed. And not Hollywood movies.

Spooky23 10y ago
It's been well documented that as far back as 1971, the NSA & Navy was tapping cables under the Sea of Okhotsk. Sounds pretty impossible to me.

gscott 10y ago

I believe the data goes through some friendly countries where we can get to it easier.

Jerry2 10y ago
Do you think they lay another cable from the tap to some collection point or do they use radio waves? Or maybe they just record the data and then just collect it by a surface ship or a sub every month...
- seanp2k2 10y ago
  Radios don't work so well underwater. This is why subs have various radio masts that poke above the surface. They stay just below the water with the antennas dry for the most part. It's be much easier to mess with routing (in secret or not) and capture data at another point.
- gscott 10y ago
  They do a splitter in datacenters to the NSA so I presume that is similar many fiber optic wires. From what I understand is that the submarine has to stay there to collect the data. So I presume they split it and have a cable they connect to it that routes it right to the sub. However I think Hawaii is a big NSA station because a lot of those international lines right through near there. I wonder if they could split the stream and run a whole cable back to Hawaii with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slide-you-havent-seen/2013/07/10/32801426-e8e6-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slid... https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/55_201110-ISS-IAD-T1-GLIMMERGLASS.pdf https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/55_201110-ISS-IAD-T1-...

digler999 10y ago

> so how do you store & transmit it back for analysis? complete guess, but probably just chop it and quickly install another "repeater" that does everything the existing repeaters do, in addition to copying the information into their own system. Now, how do they filter out and find what they're looking for ? who knows. probably run a secondary fiber line to an underwater "server room" and/or to a buoy with an antenna for remote control ?