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This is great, but misses one important fact. Knowing the level of corruption in the Brazilian government, this assumes no one who works on the optics can be br
by SEJeff 12y ago
This is great, but misses one important fact. Knowing the level of corruption in the Brazilian government, this assumes no one who works on the optics can be bribed by the NSA. I suspect that is improbable.
Short of doing like the DOD does for their classified dark fiber, where they put each strand in a metal pipe, which is pressurized with gas and monitor the pressure in the pipes. When the pressure changes (due to a break in the pipe or someone trying to tap into it), heavily armed security will be dispatched to said location with a quickness.
- pmorici 12y agoNot sure where you heard the pressurized metal pipe thing; pretty sure these inline encryption devices are the norm though... http://www.gdc4s.com/products/secure-voice-and-data-products-catergory-listing/network-encryption.html http://www.gdc4s.com/products/secure-voice-and-data-products...
- SEJeff 12y agoI've got a family friend who is a backhoe operator in Baltimore. He was unfortunate enough to accidentally breach one of those pipes containing sensitive fiber optics and was surrounded by DoD armed guards. Listening to him tell the story is pretty funny. This type of thing, but that is just from a very quick google: http://www.google.com/patents/US5218197 http://www.google.com/patents/US5218197
- patrickk 12y ago>This is great, but misses one important fact. Knowing the level of corruption in the Brazilian government, this assumes no one who works on the optics can be bribed by the NSA. I suspect that is improbable. It likely doesn't matter in any case. Read up on the USS Jimmy Carter. It's likely that this submarine has the ability to directly tap into undersea cables.
- sudonim 12y agoI was just about to post that - but here's the wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter_(SSN-23) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter_(SSN-23)
- rbsn 12y agoCan you not have end to end encryption of the frames that go over the wire? I guess it's immensely expensive when you're transmitting at 100Gb/s.
- SEJeff 12y agoI'm sure you can, and cost isn't really an issue for the various three letter US agencies. They still treat tapping into said encrypted comms lines as a hostile act.
- Zigurd 12y agoThe practice of pressurizing conduit and insulation sheaths is meant to keep water out. I don't think pressure is likely to be the best way to localize a fault. There are other types of sensors that can locate a fault in a fiber optic line.
- mschuster91 12y agoIndeed, but if only the outer pipework or the isolation has been damaged, then a pure fiber-optic measurement will not detect the compromise.