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It has been known for some time that America's critical infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to attack. In 2013, a group of gunmen cut fiber lines and shot o

It has been known for some time that America's critical infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to attack. In 2013, a group of gunmen cut fiber lines and shot out high-voltage transformers at a substation south of San Jose. The perpetrators were never caught [0]. Authorities thought it could be the dry-run for a larger attack. It took weeks to repair the damage to this one substation. The reserve inventory of high-voltage transformers is not large, and it takes time to build replacements from scratch [1]. There is a series of memes and greentexts on sites like 4chan [2][3] which describe how to disrupt, destroy, and damage critical infrastructure in the event of (or in order to provoke) civil conflict. One meme describes how to sabotage phone and fiber lines in ways that are the most difficult to detect and costly to repair. This knowledge has circulated for years. I'm honestly surprised that we haven't seen more attacks until now, especially during this summer's unrest. I take the absence of attacks as a positive indicator of basic human decency, or maybe general technical ignorance. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_sniper_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_sniper_attack [1] https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/04/f34/Strategic%20Transformer%20Reserve%20Report%20-%20FINAL.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/04/f34/Strategi... [2] https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan [3] https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg

gruez 6y ago
>There is a series of memes and greentexts on sites like 4chan [2] >[2] https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan This reads more revolution/apocalypse porn (for lack of a better word) than anything else. 75% desertion rate because of a liberal president? That seems suspiciously high.
- dmix 6y ago
  You could also read some Tom Clancy back in the 1980s/90s, or countless spy novels, and get some pretty realistic and very scary sounding terrorism scenarios if you really wanted to. There's a lot of smart people who can think these things out, and do so for fun or professionally. I guess we're lucky the amount of smart people who actually pull things off is quite low, almost close to zero percentage points world population wise. At least in the west. I personally think the worse one in recent American history, besides 9/11 was the Las Vegas concert shooting. All that took was a half smart guy who operated alone, had plenty of personal resources, critically didn't tell anyone (OPSEC) mostly because he was already a loner, and also critically didn't have any exit plan. What's interesting about that one too is there was no clear motive either - at least none has come out in the years since the shootings.
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    We're lucky we live in a world where people with the means and work ethic can make a better life for themselves doing better things.
- neartheplain 6y ago
  That post was a poor example, but it was the only one I could find on short notice. Here is another that goes into more detail [0]. I have added it to my original comment. [0] https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg
trianglem 6y ago
All of that 4chan meme stuff is literal nonsense though if you read any of the follow ups to those ideas. The only thing they’re getting right is the rioting aspect.
- s5300 6y ago
  Uhh, no offense, but you do realize that '4chan meme stuff" is literally the core of the largest conspiracy shitshow we've seen in at least one decade?
  - trianglem 6y ago
    Yes but this stuff is larping to basically push their narrative online. This is pretty much what all Parler posts look like now. I don’t understand why 4chan is allowed to continue unfettered, this is pretty much where all this began anyways. Facebook, Twitter etc. just amplified it.
- neartheplain 6y ago
  Yes, it's mostly nonsense. Unfortunately, the parts about America's vulnerable electric grid are accurate.
  - trianglem 6y ago
    That’s just how electric grids work. Every country in the world has the same problem without the generator backups that the US has.
mschuster91 6y ago
> but one meme describes how to sabotage phone and fiber lines in ways that are the most difficult to detect and costly to repair You don't even need a shitty meme. In countries with pole fiber, take a chainsaw and a motorcycle. In countries without, the telco manhole covers are marked and not secured at all against intruders.
- segfaultbuserr 6y ago
  From Unix fortune. > A good sysadmin always carries around a few feet of fiber. If he ever gets lost, he simply drops the fiber on the ground, waits ten minutes, then asks the backhoe operator for directions. > -- Bill Bradford <mrbill@mrbill.net>
- MisterTea 6y ago
  We used to have a house in Vermont many years ago. The phone and cable lines were down from time to time. If the phones worked the usual response from the cable company is "someone idiot shot at the wires." So this form of "domestic terrorism" is nothing new.
  - noodlesUK 6y ago
    Yeah, in the US things are considered vandalism that would be considered a much more significant attack elsewhere. Somebody shot up a bunch of telco boxes and took out a whole neighbourhood’s internet connection. The response from the isp was basically “happens all the time, new kit’s coming”
    - jcrawfordor 6y ago
      My father used to work in electricity transmission, including some very long high-voltage DC lines. He said that a big problem they have with lower-voltage lines is people shooting at the glass insulators, and a big problem they have with the high-voltage lines is people shooting at the spacers... and also stealing bolts and straps for metal value. It's interesting to think about what could have happened if someone unintentionally caused serious damage to, say, a transmission line which was the largest connection into Los Angeles, but ultimately they are built pretty sturdy. This kind of vandalism is just a huge hassle for just about any infrastructure that covers a meaningful amount of land.
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
This is mostly trash and people fapping to some anarchy fantasy, almost none of this makes any sence or is realistic. Even in a civil war you seize infrastructure because you need it, not destroy it randomly in a fit of psychotic frevor
- jcrawfordor 6y ago
  The greatest concern by far is terrorism, not military action targeted towards occupation.
  - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
    Fraud kills more people and costs more every year than any terorrism ever could. More people were rendered hungry and homeless in 2008 than by all terrorists combined in the last 50 years.
    - fuzxi 6y ago
      I'm more than willing to accept that. I'd clarify that terrorism is the bigger concern to the American government, not that it necessarily should be.
    - sitkack 6y ago
      Are you saying that the banks are the real terrorists?
partiallypro 6y ago
I think the fact that most people don't seem to want to admit as to why attacks like this are uncommon...is that people are generally good and want to live normal lives. The looting in NYC, etc this summer was gross but eventually citizens began stepping up to defend their own communities and to assist law enforcement. Our agencies and law enforcement are fairly good at thwarting attacks that involve multiple individuals. What we struggle with are lone wolf attacks where no intel can be gathered.

gruez 6y ago

>There is a series of memes and greentexts on sites like 4chan [2] >[2] https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1837689-4chan This reads more revolution/apocalypse porn (for lack of a better word) than anything else. 75% desertion rate because of a liberal president? That seems suspiciously high.

dmix 6y ago
You could also read some Tom Clancy back in the 1980s/90s, or countless spy novels, and get some pretty realistic and very scary sounding terrorism scenarios if you really wanted to. There's a lot of smart people who can think these things out, and do so for fun or professionally. I guess we're lucky the amount of smart people who actually pull things off is quite low, almost close to zero percentage points world population wise. At least in the west. I personally think the worse one in recent American history, besides 9/11 was the Las Vegas concert shooting. All that took was a half smart guy who operated alone, had plenty of personal resources, critically didn't tell anyone (OPSEC) mostly because he was already a loner, and also critically didn't have any exit plan. What's interesting about that one too is there was no clear motive either - at least none has come out in the years since the shootings.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  We're lucky we live in a world where people with the means and work ethic can make a better life for themselves doing better things.
neartheplain 6y ago
That post was a poor example, but it was the only one I could find on short notice. Here is another that goes into more detail [0]. I have added it to my original comment. [0] https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/FfjVlRX.jpeg

trianglem 6y ago

All of that 4chan meme stuff is literal nonsense though if you read any of the follow ups to those ideas. The only thing they’re getting right is the rioting aspect.

s5300 6y ago
Uhh, no offense, but you do realize that '4chan meme stuff" is literally the core of the largest conspiracy shitshow we've seen in at least one decade?
- trianglem 6y ago
  Yes but this stuff is larping to basically push their narrative online. This is pretty much what all Parler posts look like now. I don’t understand why 4chan is allowed to continue unfettered, this is pretty much where all this began anyways. Facebook, Twitter etc. just amplified it.
neartheplain 6y ago
Yes, it's mostly nonsense. Unfortunately, the parts about America's vulnerable electric grid are accurate.
- trianglem 6y ago
  That’s just how electric grids work. Every country in the world has the same problem without the generator backups that the US has.

mschuster91 6y ago

> but one meme describes how to sabotage phone and fiber lines in ways that are the most difficult to detect and costly to repair You don't even need a shitty meme. In countries with pole fiber, take a chainsaw and a motorcycle. In countries without, the telco manhole covers are marked and not secured at all against intruders.

segfaultbuserr 6y ago
From Unix fortune. > A good sysadmin always carries around a few feet of fiber. If he ever gets lost, he simply drops the fiber on the ground, waits ten minutes, then asks the backhoe operator for directions. > -- Bill Bradford <mrbill@mrbill.net>
MisterTea 6y ago
We used to have a house in Vermont many years ago. The phone and cable lines were down from time to time. If the phones worked the usual response from the cable company is "someone idiot shot at the wires." So this form of "domestic terrorism" is nothing new.
- noodlesUK 6y ago
  Yeah, in the US things are considered vandalism that would be considered a much more significant attack elsewhere. Somebody shot up a bunch of telco boxes and took out a whole neighbourhood’s internet connection. The response from the isp was basically “happens all the time, new kit’s coming”
  - jcrawfordor 6y ago
    My father used to work in electricity transmission, including some very long high-voltage DC lines. He said that a big problem they have with lower-voltage lines is people shooting at the glass insulators, and a big problem they have with the high-voltage lines is people shooting at the spacers... and also stealing bolts and straps for metal value. It's interesting to think about what could have happened if someone unintentionally caused serious damage to, say, a transmission line which was the largest connection into Los Angeles, but ultimately they are built pretty sturdy. This kind of vandalism is just a huge hassle for just about any infrastructure that covers a meaningful amount of land.

ClumsyPilot 6y ago

This is mostly trash and people fapping to some anarchy fantasy, almost none of this makes any sence or is realistic. Even in a civil war you seize infrastructure because you need it, not destroy it randomly in a fit of psychotic frevor

jcrawfordor 6y ago
The greatest concern by far is terrorism, not military action targeted towards occupation.
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  Fraud kills more people and costs more every year than any terorrism ever could. More people were rendered hungry and homeless in 2008 than by all terrorists combined in the last 50 years.
  - fuzxi 6y ago
    I'm more than willing to accept that. I'd clarify that terrorism is the bigger concern to the American government, not that it necessarily should be.
  - sitkack 6y ago
    Are you saying that the banks are the real terrorists?

partiallypro 6y ago

I think the fact that most people don't seem to want to admit as to why attacks like this are uncommon...is that people are generally good and want to live normal lives. The looting in NYC, etc this summer was gross but eventually citizens began stepping up to defend their own communities and to assist law enforcement. Our agencies and law enforcement are fairly good at thwarting attacks that involve multiple individuals. What we struggle with are lone wolf attacks where no intel can be gathered.