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Modern infrastructure routers have the ability to replicate traffic on any network interface to a second network interface, and to do this without affecting thr
by Zigurd 4y ago
Modern infrastructure routers have the ability to replicate traffic on any network interface to a second network interface, and to do this without affecting throughput or latency through the node. I have long suspected that the story of "beam splitters" on optic fibers was a red herring to distract from how it is really done.
If you are surveilling a foreign adversary's submarine cable, OK, you need to actually tap-in to a fiber cable. But for a fraction of the price of one sigint satellite, you could provision "twin" NICs and build/buy backhaul from every backbone node in the US.
- ajsnigrutin 4y ago> Modern infrastructure routers have the ability to replicate traffic on any network interface to a second network interface, and to do this without affecting throughput or latency through the node. I have long suspected that the story of "beam splitters" on optic fibers was a red herring to distract from how it is really done. They probably do both... beam spliters are nice, for when you don't even want the telco to know.
- autoexec 4y ago> They probably do both... beam spliters are nice, for when you don't even want the telco to know. They are way past bothering to hide what they do. Decades ago they were happy to march right into a telco's headquarters and take over parts of their facility for their own use and then set up splitters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A
- mhh__ 4y agoIs a beam splitter not visible to something like time domain reflectometry?
- ajsnigrutin 4y agoDepends on how much the split away.... if it's like 0.1dB loss, it could be explained by a normal bend in the fiber.
- samstave 4y ago>If you are surveilling a foreign adversary's submarine cable This is exactly what the USS Jimmy Carter does. And supposedly it was namesaked to spite carter as he was against spying, but the sub was built to splice and tap sea fiber. Recall all the lines going down off Libya, Egypt and the like, and there was a brief controversy as the US was being accused of splicing into those lines.... I cant find the article I was thinking of, as apparently these cable cuts are more frequent than I knew...
- mpyne 4y agoUSS Jimmy Carter was named after the former President because Jimmy Carter was himself a submarine officer, and during his Navy service used his nuclear training to assist in the cleanup and recovery of a nuclear accident in Canada. He considered his time as a nuclear submarine officer so formative that a question to him from the Admiral in charge of Naval Reactors, Hyman Rickover, formed the title of his book "Why Not the Best?" [1] President Carter was well-aware that the submarine was named after him and why, and stated himself how proud he was to have a submarine named after him. [2] Not just a submarine either; the Seawolf class is still among the most capable ever built by the U.S., and the Jimmy Carter (with her "special projects" upgrades) is the most capable of the entire class. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-not-best-Jimmy-Carter/dp/0805455825 https://www.amazon.com/Why-not-best-Jimmy-Carter/dp/08054558... [2] https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/27/carter.sub/ https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/27/carter.sub/
- MichaelZuo 4y agoWhat a politician says on the record and what they truly feel are not necessarily identical.
- kkielhofner 4y agoIt’s been around a lot longer than anything I would call modern! I remember managed switches from over 20 years ago having it. For anyone curious the blanket term is “port mirroring”. These days there’s little to no distinction between “switch” and “router” ports at this level so the term applies regardless.