Feb 26, 4:56 PM EST
Vandalism in Arizona shows the Internet's vulnerability
By FELICIA FONSECA
Associated Press
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NORTHERN_ARIZONA_INTERNET_OUTAGE
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Computers, cellphones and landlines in Arizona
were knocked out of service for hours, ATMs stopped working, 911 systems
were disrupted and businesses were unable to process credit card
transactions - all because vandals sliced through a fiber-optic Internet
cable buried in the rocky desert.
The Internet outage did more than underscore just how dependent modern
society has become on high technology. It raised questions about the
vulnerability of the nation's Internet infrastructure.
Alex Juarez, a spokesman for Internet service provider CenturyLink, said
the problem was first reported around noon Wednesday, with customer
complaints pouring in from an area extending from the northern edges of
Phoenix to cities like Flagstaff, Prescott, Page and Sedona. Service
began coming back within a few hours and was reported fully restored by
about 3 a.m. Thursday.
CenturyLink blamed vandalism, and police are investigating.
The severed CenturyLink-owned cable - actually, a set of cables bundled
together in a black conduit a few inches in diameter - was buried
several feet under the rocky soil in a dry wash, about a quarter-mile
from the nearest houses.
Investigators believe the vandals were looking for copper wire - which
can fetch high prices as scrap - but didn't find any after cutting all
the way through the cable, probably with power tools, Phoenix police
spokesman Officer James Holmes said.
"Your average house saw and wire cutters wouldn't do it," Holmes said.
He said the damage was estimated at $6,000.
As the outage spread, CenturyLink technicians began the long, tedious
process of inspecting the line mile by mile. They eventually located the
cut in the cable and spliced it back together.
CenturyLink gave no estimate of how many people were affected, but the
outage was far-reaching because other cellphone, TV and Internet
providers use the cable, too, under leasing arrangements with the company.
Such networks often have built-in redundancies that allow data to be
rerouted if a cable is cut or damaged. But there was no such backup in
this case.
Mark Goldstein, secretary for the Arizona Telecommunications and
Information Council, said the problem is that large swaths of the outage
area are a mishmash of federal lands under the control of different
agencies.
"You can't just like go through the mountains and bury fiber. Part of
the problems have to do with land ownership in Arizona. So much land is
Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service or tribal,"
Goldstein said.
Joseph Hobbs, who does contract work in telecommunications in the
Phoenix area and is on the board of the Arizona Telecommunications and
Information Council, said that creating backup systems and electronic
monitoring to instantly detect breaches in the fiber-optic cables could
be costly but could prevent widespread outages and shorten to less than
a second the time it takes to restore service.
The cable that was severed isn't hard to spot because the trenching
machines used to bury it leave a scar on the landscape, he said.
"I could take a couple of shovels, and one or two people, a six-pack of
beer, find a place that's hidden with not much traffic, and I could have
a little party," Hobbs said. "It would be a trivial task to dig up one
of these cables. They're not guarded, and they're not protected."
Hobbs said CenturyLink should be discussing why the lines weren't backed
up and whether there are enough alternative routes for data. "People
should be embarrassed that this has happened and that they hadn't
planned for a better outcome," he said.
Juarez, the CenturyLink spokesman, said the conduit along Interstate 17
is the only one serving northern Arizona. The company is working to
complete a backup line by the end of the year for a portion of the
affected area, including Prescott, he said.
"We're always looking for places where we can have that," he said.
The details of the vandalism came to light on the same day the Federal
Communications Commission in Washington voted to impose stricter
regulation over Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T,
Sprint and T-Mobile.
The plan, which puts the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the
telephone, requires Internet service providers to act in the "public
interest" and bans business practices that are "unjust or unreasonable."
Police investigating the vandalism in Arizona asked local residents to
come forward if they saw anyone walking or driving in the area around
the time service went out.
Any charges resulting would not be limited to vandalism, Holmes said.
"It's endangerment," Holmes said. "When you think about that, if someone
has an emergency and the only means they have of contacting or getting
assistance is through their cellphone, that's just not a good thing."
During the outage, Flagstaff's 69,000 residents struggled to go about
their daily business. Students at Northern Arizona University were
worried about finishing assignments without the Internet, bank customers
couldn't withdraw money from cash machines, and City Hall employees were
unable to make or receive calls.
The city relied on the Arizona Department of Public Safety for help in
dispatching police and firefighters. In Prescott Valley, about 75 miles
north of Phoenix, authorities said 911 service was supplemented with
hand-held radios and alternate phone numbers.
Weather reports from the region weren't able to reach anyone. During the
evening newscasts, Phoenix TV stations showed blank spaces on their
weather maps where local temperatures normally would appear.
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