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Cyber Attack on California Town Goes Largely Unreported

by Terrence O'Brien on April 24, 2009 at 06:10 PM

California Town Crippled in Cable Cutting Attack

How exactly this slipped through without getting picked up by the media we're not exactly sure, but it appears that southern San Jose, California and the surrounding area recently fell victim to a cyber-attack that crippled some of the city's infrastructure.

Just after midnight on April 9th, someone (or a small group of someones) climbed down four manholes and cut fiber-optic lines serving the city. Morgan Hill, southern San Jose and parts of the surrounding counties (including Gilroy and Monterey) lost land-line, Internet, and cell phone service, and, as a result, also lost the functionality of Emergency 911, ATMs, and even one hospital's network.

Over the course of the 17-hour telecommunication crisis, the only means of remote communication that continued to work without interruption was standalone radio (e.g. the two-way radios used by emergency response personnel). Authorities in the city were forced to enlist the local ham radio club to help coordinate the dispatch of emergency services, and to maintain contact with the outside world.

The question isn't "Will such an attack happen again," but, rather, "When will it?" Much of our communications infrastructure is extremely vulnerable, protected only by the height of telephone poles and the weight of manhole covers. In fact, communications lines are often accidentally cut by construction equipment. If small outages are so simple to cause by accident, imagine what would be possible with a concerted attack. A dozen or so well-organized criminals could potentially cripple an entire state with nothing more than some pry-bars and industrial-strength wire cutters.

Hit up the read link for more details about the cyber-attack on the California city, and what it says about our emergency preparedness. [From: Bruce Perens and Mercury News]

Tags: cable cutting, CableCutting, communication, cyber attack, CyberAttack, emergency, fiber, security, top

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