Threat Center Security News Severed Cables Disrupt Service
Severed Cables Disrupt Service Print E-mail
Written by Rebecca Mints   
Friday, 01 February 2008 23:13
Severed Cables Disrupt Service in Mediterranean and Asia (January 31, 2008) Two undersea communications cables in the Mediterranean - one near Marseilles, France and the other near Alexandria, Egypt - were accidentally cut on Tuesday, January 29. 

Different groups operated the two cables, but the damage to both occurred within a matter of hours.  Undersea cables can be damaged by movement along fault lines or by ships' anchors. Internet access was disrupted in most of Egypt and in India, and some Verizon customers experienced slow service. Most communications were rerouted through other cables.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31cable.html?ei=5088&en=95a9e51bf6c http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7218008.stm http://news.smh.com.au/damaged-cables-cut-internet-in-mideast/20080131-1p5a.html 

 

Although it appears that this incident was completely accidental, it is hugely significant in that it provides a glimpse of what might happen when a massive denial of service attack designed to bring the entire Internet down occurs, something that I have predicted will happen this year. (Honan): If your company outsources services to countries overseas have you reviewed your business continuity plans lately to determine how an outage like this would impact on your business and what to do in the event that it does?] Source: sans.com

 

WTW Threat Level