3 ms·

Wouldn't someone notice if the cable went out of commission for 10 minutes while they spliced?

omh 14y ago
If your underwater fibre goes down for 10 minutes would international espionage really be the first thing that comes to mind?
- aw3c2 14y ago
  If it comes back, then yes. I don't think fiber can have a "loose connection". It either works or it does not.
  - jrockway 14y ago
    That may be true of the fiber, but it's not true of the network equipment driving the fiber. Like all computers, these occasionally need hardware or software upgrades too.
    - rdl 14y ago
      You could also arrange for your subsea tapping to be at the same time as an attack (IP or electrical) on the shore station, if you really want it to be difficult to detect. Or do a real cut in one place (with a trawler), while tapping at another place. And possibly cut 5 cables at the same time... Anyone with real security requirements assumes long-haul cables and the general Internet are monitored. Point to point crypto on links is one of the easier problems to solve. (the harder problem is doing something once you've tapped -- you either need to build a multi-wave analysis box and low-bitrate exfiltration solution over an IRU you've purchased, or run your own big cable to the tap location. Much easier to tap at the cable landing site.)
andyjohnson0 14y ago
Probably. But what would the cable operator do about it? Even assuming they could locate the section of cable that sent down, sending a ship out to it and either sending divers down or (more likely) hoisting the cable up for inspection would be incredibly expensive. Edit: And if they did somehow find a tap, its hard to know what they would they do then. Snip it off and trigger an 'incident', or leave it in-place and forget they ever saw it. My guess is that the share holders would rather didn't look in the first place.
vdm 14y ago
Maybe the tap could be done covertly before commissioning.
euroclydon 14y ago
You just come ten miles behind the cable laying ship and splice it before it's ever terminated. I don't know if cable laying ships keep a connection to land over the cable as it's laid, but even if they do, you just place somebody on the ship to notify you when they're asleep or to tamper with the monitoring system.

omh 14y ago

If your underwater fibre goes down for 10 minutes would international espionage really be the first thing that comes to mind?

aw3c2 14y ago
If it comes back, then yes. I don't think fiber can have a "loose connection". It either works or it does not.
- jrockway 14y ago
  That may be true of the fiber, but it's not true of the network equipment driving the fiber. Like all computers, these occasionally need hardware or software upgrades too.
  - rdl 14y ago
    You could also arrange for your subsea tapping to be at the same time as an attack (IP or electrical) on the shore station, if you really want it to be difficult to detect. Or do a real cut in one place (with a trawler), while tapping at another place. And possibly cut 5 cables at the same time... Anyone with real security requirements assumes long-haul cables and the general Internet are monitored. Point to point crypto on links is one of the easier problems to solve. (the harder problem is doing something once you've tapped -- you either need to build a multi-wave analysis box and low-bitrate exfiltration solution over an IRU you've purchased, or run your own big cable to the tap location. Much easier to tap at the cable landing site.)

andyjohnson0 14y ago

Probably. But what would the cable operator do about it? Even assuming they could locate the section of cable that sent down, sending a ship out to it and either sending divers down or (more likely) hoisting the cable up for inspection would be incredibly expensive. Edit: And if they did somehow find a tap, its hard to know what they would they do then. Snip it off and trigger an 'incident', or leave it in-place and forget they ever saw it. My guess is that the share holders would rather didn't look in the first place.

vdm 14y ago

Maybe the tap could be done covertly before commissioning.

euroclydon 14y ago

You just come ten miles behind the cable laying ship and splice it before it's ever terminated. I don't know if cable laying ships keep a connection to land over the cable as it's laid, but even if they do, you just place somebody on the ship to notify you when they're asleep or to tamper with the monitoring system.