Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on February 03, 2008, 08:21:34 PM
Quote
Internet services in Qatar have been seriously disrupted because of damage to an undersea telecoms cable linking the Gulf state to the UAE, the fourth such incident in less than a week.
Qatar Telecom (Qtel) said on Sunday the cable was damaged between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of Das on Friday.
The cause of damage is not yet known, but ArabianBusiness.com has been told unofficially the problem is related to the power system and not the result of a ship's anchor cutting the cable, as is thought to be the case in the other three incidents.
Story continues below ↓
advertisement
It is expected to take at least "a few days" to fix, according to one person with knowledge of the situation.
The damage caused major problems for internet users in Qatar over the weekend, but Qtel's loss of capacity has been kept below 40% thanks to what the telecom said was a large number of alternative routes for transmission.
It is not yet clear how badly telecom and internet services have been affected in the UAE. Etisalat is expected to release a statement on Monday.
Parts of the Gulf Arab region were plunged into a virtual internet blackout on Wednesday when two undersea cables were cut near Alexandria, on Egypts north coast.
The initial breaches were in segments of two intercontinental cables known as Sea-ME-We-4 and Flag Europe-Asia.
The situation was made worse on Friday when Flag, part of India's Reliance Communications, revealed a third cable, Falcon, had also been damaged off the UAE coast.
Etisalat said it does not use the Falcon cable and is therefore unaffected, but the UAE's second telco, Du, warned the damage could hamper its efforts to restore normal service to customers. Etisalat said it is helping Du minimise disruption.
Flag said a repair ship was expected to arrive at the location of the third damaged cable in the next few days, but bad weather has prevented the vessel from setting off from Abu Dhabi port.
The ship is now expected to depart Monday morning and the repairs should take five days.
The third cable is located 56 kilometres from Dubai on a segment between the UAE and Oman.
Etisalat said it had been informed by Flag Telecom, which operates one of the two damaged cables in the Mediterranean Sea, that the problem should be fixed in two weeks, while the operator of the other cable planned to carry out repairs on February 8.
Flag said on Saturday a ship should reach the cable repair ground by February 5.
Qatar Telecom (Qtel) said on Sunday the cable was damaged between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of Das on Friday.
The cause of damage is not yet known, but ArabianBusiness.com has been told unofficially the problem is related to the power system and not the result of a ship's anchor cutting the cable, as is thought to be the case in the other three incidents.
Story continues below ↓
advertisement
It is expected to take at least "a few days" to fix, according to one person with knowledge of the situation.
The damage caused major problems for internet users in Qatar over the weekend, but Qtel's loss of capacity has been kept below 40% thanks to what the telecom said was a large number of alternative routes for transmission.
It is not yet clear how badly telecom and internet services have been affected in the UAE. Etisalat is expected to release a statement on Monday.
Parts of the Gulf Arab region were plunged into a virtual internet blackout on Wednesday when two undersea cables were cut near Alexandria, on Egypts north coast.
The initial breaches were in segments of two intercontinental cables known as Sea-ME-We-4 and Flag Europe-Asia.
The situation was made worse on Friday when Flag, part of India's Reliance Communications, revealed a third cable, Falcon, had also been damaged off the UAE coast.
Etisalat said it does not use the Falcon cable and is therefore unaffected, but the UAE's second telco, Du, warned the damage could hamper its efforts to restore normal service to customers. Etisalat said it is helping Du minimise disruption.
Flag said a repair ship was expected to arrive at the location of the third damaged cable in the next few days, but bad weather has prevented the vessel from setting off from Abu Dhabi port.
The ship is now expected to depart Monday morning and the repairs should take five days.
The third cable is located 56 kilometres from Dubai on a segment between the UAE and Oman.
Etisalat said it had been informed by Flag Telecom, which operates one of the two damaged cables in the Mediterranean Sea, that the problem should be fixed in two weeks, while the operator of the other cable planned to carry out repairs on February 8.
Flag said on Saturday a ship should reach the cable repair ground by February 5.
Anyone think this is accidental?
Post by: mfree on February 04, 2008, 04:03:46 AM
They may get down there and find a new trench in the seafloor for all we know, the area is still very seismically active...
Post by: AJ Dual on February 04, 2008, 05:51:31 AM
I just wonder if trying to cut the ME off from the net or seriously hamper it's access is a prelude to a larger action. Cutting the area off from an info-war standpoint cuts both ways.
For all I know, "wild weasel" missions on Iran are next.
But if it were more focused on India, I'd say it was likelier that it was a cabal of disgruntled, unemployed, or under-employed U.S. and European I.T. workers... I'll admit that on some of my more selfish and darker days, I've kind of faintly hoped Pakistan and India had their "balloon go up"...
Post by: Brad Johnson on February 04, 2008, 07:51:52 AM
Quote
Anyone think this is accidental?
The real question is, "Could anyone think it isn't?"
Brad
Post by: Manedwolf on February 04, 2008, 08:01:40 AM
I think there's no way this can't be "enemy action"...
I just wonder if trying to cut the ME off from the net or seriously hamper it's access is a prelude to a larger action. Cutting the area off from an info-war standpoint cuts both ways.
For all I know, "wild weasel" missions on Iran are next.
But if it were more focused on India, I'd say it was likelier that it was a cabal of disgruntled, unemployed, or under-employed U.S. and European I.T. workers... I'll admit that on some of my more selfish and darker days, I've kind of faintly hoped Pakistan and India had their "balloon go up"...
I just wonder if trying to cut the ME off from the net or seriously hamper it's access is a prelude to a larger action. Cutting the area off from an info-war standpoint cuts both ways.
For all I know, "wild weasel" missions on Iran are next.
But if it were more focused on India, I'd say it was likelier that it was a cabal of disgruntled, unemployed, or under-employed U.S. and European I.T. workers... I'll admit that on some of my more selfish and darker days, I've kind of faintly hoped Pakistan and India had their "balloon go up"...
I had the mental picture of a bunch of unemployed IT geeks on a boat, flying a banner of "Outsource THIS!"
Post by: HankB on February 04, 2008, 09:49:12 AM
Quote
Anyone think this is accidental?
The real question is, "Could anyone think it isn't?"
Brad
This is FOUR times.
Post by: drewtam on February 04, 2008, 01:39:25 PM
Other than economic damage, what does this really accomplish? There's got to be a bigger plan going into effect here.
Post by: Brad Johnson on February 04, 2008, 01:57:10 PM
Brad
Post by: AJ Dual on February 04, 2008, 02:22:30 PM
Someone under the impression that U.S. Military forces communicated via land/sea internet cables, maybe?
Brad
Brad
Either that or some AQ or Taliban-in-Exile higher-up caught his kid watching YouPorn or whatnot...
Post by: Manedwolf on February 06, 2008, 08:24:01 AM
Quote
Bad to Worse: Fifth Undersea Cable Cut in Middle East
Undersea cable owners still won't speculate on cause of cable cuts
Reports are coming in this morning that a fifth undersea fiber optic cable was severed in the Middle East. However, by several accounts, the fifth cable cut is actually a second cut on a different segment of the FALCON cable. How exactly these cables are being cut is still unknown, though Egyptian officials maintain a ship didnt cause the breakages near the port of Alexandria.
The saga of cut cables and lost bandwidth began on January 23 when the Flag Telecoms FALCON undersea fiber optic cable near the Egyptian port of Alexandria was severed. On January 30 another cable called the SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle East- Western Europe-4) cable was cut according to the Khaleej Times Online. Egyptian officials said that a review of ship traffic in the area at the time of the breakage precludes the damage being caused by a ships anchor.
Khaleej Times Online reports that on February 1 another cut appeared in the FALCON cable, which resulted in severe disruption of data service in the Gulf region. The rundown of cut cables in the region includes the FLAG Europe-Asia cable near Alexandria, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran, SeaMeWe-4 near Alexandria, SeaMeWe-4 near Penang, Malaysia, and FLAG near the Dubai coast.
Mahesh Jaishanker executive director of Business Development and Marketing for TeleGeography is quoted by the Khaleej Times Online as saying, The submarine cable cuts in FLAG Europe-Asia cable 8.3km away from Alexandria, Egypt and SeaMeWe-4 affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, six million in Egypt and 4.7 million in Saudi Arabia.
DailyTech reported that the first pair of cables were severed on January 31, followed by a third cut undersea cable on February 4, and a fourth cut cable on February 5.
Undersea cable owners still won't speculate on cause of cable cuts
Reports are coming in this morning that a fifth undersea fiber optic cable was severed in the Middle East. However, by several accounts, the fifth cable cut is actually a second cut on a different segment of the FALCON cable. How exactly these cables are being cut is still unknown, though Egyptian officials maintain a ship didnt cause the breakages near the port of Alexandria.
The saga of cut cables and lost bandwidth began on January 23 when the Flag Telecoms FALCON undersea fiber optic cable near the Egyptian port of Alexandria was severed. On January 30 another cable called the SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle East- Western Europe-4) cable was cut according to the Khaleej Times Online. Egyptian officials said that a review of ship traffic in the area at the time of the breakage precludes the damage being caused by a ships anchor.
Khaleej Times Online reports that on February 1 another cut appeared in the FALCON cable, which resulted in severe disruption of data service in the Gulf region. The rundown of cut cables in the region includes the FLAG Europe-Asia cable near Alexandria, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran, SeaMeWe-4 near Alexandria, SeaMeWe-4 near Penang, Malaysia, and FLAG near the Dubai coast.
Mahesh Jaishanker executive director of Business Development and Marketing for TeleGeography is quoted by the Khaleej Times Online as saying, The submarine cable cuts in FLAG Europe-Asia cable 8.3km away from Alexandria, Egypt and SeaMeWe-4 affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, six million in Egypt and 4.7 million in Saudi Arabia.
DailyTech reported that the first pair of cables were severed on January 31, followed by a third cut undersea cable on February 4, and a fourth cut cable on February 5.
http://www.dailytech.com/Bad+to+Worse+Fifth+Undersea+Cable+Cut+in+Middle+East/article10598c.htm
Post by: BryanP on February 06, 2008, 09:25:45 AM
Post by: AZRedhawk44 on February 06, 2008, 12:13:49 PM
The locations of the 5 cuts are shown below.
The Egyptian ones are close enough for Animalstinians to have scuba dived with a hacksaw or blowtorch.
The Persian Gulf ones are easily reached by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, again with speed boats and scuba gear.
The Malaysian cables are near Islamofascist enclaves located in southern Thailand and the mainland portion of Malaysia.
While far-fetched, it could be possible for Al-Qaeda to coordinate with Iran, Animalstinians and Malaysians to cripple the regional internet.
Post by: De Selby on February 06, 2008, 06:57:17 PM
And how deep are these dives? Did the terrorists manage to train their own units of divers?
Post by: Dannyboy on February 07, 2008, 03:09:30 AM
What possible, imaginable benefit would the Palestinians, Iranians, and Al Qaeda get from slowing down the regional internet?
And how deep are these dives? Did the terrorists manage to train their own units of divers?
Considering the internet is such a useful propaganda tool, there is no benefit. As for the divers, they probably sent them to dive schools in America. And, yes, that was a joke.
And how deep are these dives? Did the terrorists manage to train their own units of divers?
Post by: geronimotwo on February 07, 2008, 03:32:16 AM
Post by: Manedwolf on February 07, 2008, 04:05:51 AM
What possible, imaginable benefit would the Palestinians, Iranians, and Al Qaeda get from slowing down the regional internet?
The internet is full of porn.*
(* women without their entire body and head covered)
Post by: Sergeant Bob on February 07, 2008, 05:15:16 AM
It appears the location of the cable breaks in the Persian Gulf may be below a depth of 165 feet, a depth at which you won't find many novice divers.
Post by: Manedwolf on February 07, 2008, 07:05:14 AM
It's not some James Bond movie thing with steel pipes on gantries down there. It just looks like a hose lying across the ocean floor.
Post by: MrRezister on February 07, 2008, 10:13:24 AM
What possible, imaginable benefit would the Palestinians, Iranians, and Al Qaeda get from slowing down the regional internet?
The internet is full of porn.*
(* women without their entire body and head covered)
What?
Why am I just finding out about this???
I blame dolphins.
They just seem pretty uppity to me.
Post by: De Selby on February 07, 2008, 10:31:03 PM
What possible, imaginable benefit would the Palestinians, Iranians, and Al Qaeda get from slowing down the regional internet?
The internet is full of porn.*
(* women without their entire body and head covered)
So are Lebanon, Dubai, Bahrain, and numerous localities in even the extreme states.
No terrorist group has ever threatened Haifa Wehbe. Yet supposedly "uncovered women" are what these groups are after??? Sorry, that just does not compute.
Post by: DustinD on February 08, 2008, 05:08:56 PM
Post by: Warren on February 09, 2008, 12:13:08 AM
Post by: Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas on February 09, 2008, 12:41:04 AM
Post by: tyme on February 09, 2008, 03:42:35 PM
Quote
You do not need to dive to screw up a cable that's just lying on the bottom. Dragging something on an anchor chain like a blade and a weight could mess it up good.
I think you'd have to know exactly where the cable is -- by direct observation, at which point it would be easier to cut it while you're down there. Otherwise wouldn't whatever you're dragging along the ocean floor get caught on something before you manage to cut the cable?
Post by: DustinD on February 09, 2008, 10:12:36 PM
Quote
Most of the fishing-related damage is caused by trawlers, which tow big sacklike nets behind them. Trawlers seem designed for the purpose of damaging submarine cables. Various types of hardware are attached to the nets. In some cases, these are otter boards, which act something like rudders to push the net's mouth open. When bottom fish such as halibut are the target, a massive bar is placed across the front of the net with heavy tickler chains dangling from it; these flail against the bottom, stirring up the fish so they will rise up into the maw of the net.
Also from the article---
Mere impact can be enough to wreck a cable, if it puts a leak in the insulation. Frequently, though, a net or anchor will snag a cable. If the ship is small and the cable is big, the cable may survive the encounter. There is a type of cable, used up until the advent of optical fiber, called 21-quad, which consists of 21 four-bundle pairs of cable and a coaxial line. It is 15 centimeters in diameter, and a single meter of it weighs 46 kilograms. If a passing ship should happen to catch such a cable with its anchor, it will follow a very simple procedure: abandon it and go buy a new anchor.
But modern cables are much smaller and lighter - a mere 0.85 kg per meter for the unarmored, deep-sea portions of the FLAG cable - and the ships most apt to snag them, trawlers, are getting bigger and more powerful. Now that fishermen have massacred most of the fish in shallower water, they are moving out deeper. Formerly, cable was plowed into the bottom in water shallower than 1,000 meters, which kept it away from the trawlers. Because of recent changes in fishing practices, the figure has been boosted to 2,000 meters. But this means that the old cables are still vulnerable.
When a trawler snags a cable, it will pull it up off the seafloor. How far it gets pulled depends on the weight of the cable, the amount of slack, and the size and horsepower of the ship. Even if the cable is not pulled all the way to the surface, it may get kinked - its minimum bending radius may be violated. If the trawler does succeed in hauling the cable all the way up out of the water, the only way out of the situation, or at least the simplest, is to cut the cable. Dave Handley once did a study of a cable that had been suddenly and mysteriously severed. Hauling up the cut end, he discovered that someone had sliced through it with a cutting torch.
There is also the obvious threat of sabotage by a hostile government, but, surprisingly, this almost never happens. When cypherpunk Doug Barnes was researching his Caribbean project, he spent some time looking into this, because it was exactly the kind of threat he was worried about in the case of a data haven. Somewhat to his own surprise and relief, he concluded that it simply wasn't going to happen. "Cutting a submarine cable," Barnes says, "is like starting a nuclear war. It's easy to do, the results are devastating, and as soon as one country does it, all of the others will retaliate.
------------------
I guess the nuclear war/retaliation theory of cable laying does not hold up as well against terrorists.
As for it's armor.
Quote
Shallow water is the most perilous part of a cable's route. Extra precautions must be taken in the transition from deep water to the beach, and these precautions get more extreme as the water gets more shallow. Between 1,000 and 3,000 meters, the cable has a single layer of armor wires (steel rods about as thick as a pencil) around it. In less than 1,000 meters of water, it has a second layer of armor around the first. In the final approach to the shoreline, this double-armored cable is contained within a massive shell of articulated cast-iron pipe, which in turn is buried under up to a meter of sand.
Also from the article on Flag, if anyone is interested on why and how they bury the cables.
---
The injector is a huge steel cleaver, 7 meters high and 2 or 3 meters broad, rigged to the side of the barge so it can slide up and down and thus be jammed directly into the seabed. But instead of a cutting blade on its leading edge, it has a row of hardened-steel injector nozzles that spurt highly pressurized water, piped in from a huge pump buried in the Elbe's engine room. These nozzles fluidize the seabed and thus make it possible for the giant blade to penetrate it. Along the trailing edge of the blade runs a channel for the cable so that as the blade works its way forward, the cable is gently laid into the bottom of the slit. The barge carries a set of extensions that can be bolted onto the top of the injector so it can operate in water as deep as 40 meters, burying the cable as deep as 9 meters beneath the seabed. This sufficed to lay the cable out for a distance of 10 kilometers from Tong Fuk. Later, another barge, the Chinann, will come to continue work out to 100 meters deep and will bury both legs of the FLAG cable for another 60 kilometers out to get them through a dangerous anchorage zone.[/quote]