4 ms·
Multiple separate locations, coordinated at the same time partly at night, using power tools to cut fiber in ways that are hard to repair, That does scream p
by philprx 4y ago
Multiple separate locations,
coordinated at the same time partly at night,
using power tools to cut fiber in ways that are hard to repair,
That does scream professional job.
Now I agree that many countries manage their physical network security in a weak/ lousy way.
Interestingly, poorer countries tend to do a better job because they know people will mess with infrastructure.
- foverzar 4y agoIt's a level of "professionalism" and coordination that can be easily expected of some random Dota player. I fail to see any sophistication here. Motivation, on the other hand, is above and beyond.
- nr2x 4y agoCoordinating people is hard. Moreso at night. And while breaking the law. That’s the sophisticated part, discipline.
- mandmandam 4y agoThat actually sounds a lot like Dota, to be fair.
- Ekaros 4y agoHardest part of this is actually knowing where and what. I agree that actual timing part is quite trivial, everyone has clocks.
- shanusmagnus 4y agoThe difference between coordinating in meatspace vs a computer game is being under-valued in this thread.
- nr2x 4y agoTo a fairly absurd degree!
- Fatnino 4y agoWhat does night time have to do with it?
- the_biot 4y agoMultiple locations, coordinated roughly at the same time: that's boyscout level hard. You need a map and a watch, is all. You don't need power tools, just a cutter. This is fiberglass coated in something like PVC. A knife will do. This "hard to repair" refers to making two cuts, a bit further apart than whatever slack is in the cable. You do that by taking up the slack, then making cuts where the cables don't touch. It does not scream professional in the slightest, only motivation and a few like-minded people.
- philprx 4y agoNot speaking about what they need: That's what they used. And I guess they did use power tools to go faster for the two cuts required. I think you underestimate the work needed, especially when doing black bag (IE illegal and covert) operations. Now maybe some people with actual experience could give us better figures, ... But they tend to stay quiet
- topranks 4y agoWould you know where to cut in your metro to ensure maximum impact to the target? Is that the type of thing they teach in the scouts these days?
- the_biot 4y agoYou walk along major roads, railways, rivers and under bridges checking for manholes. They have the owners' names on them. If it's the name of a telco, there's fiber in there.
- Fatnino 4y agoWatch is superfluous. They way it's done is everyone checks in to a group chat when they are in position and then one person in charge (either back at home or even himself in the field) tells the group to go when he judges everything to be ready.
- bcrl 4y agoA decent high leverage cable cutter costs under $50 and cuts through fibre like butter. A few seconds at each point where fibre is accessible is all that's needed to do damage that costs hundreds to thousands of dollars to fix. Damage a cable in multiple locations and it's pretty easy to create a 24+ hour outage as repair crews won't know the extent of damage until multiple repairs are made. Physical telecom infrastructure is really easy for a determined attacker to take out of service, and if they're wearing an orange vest, nobody will think twice to question them.