First shots in a cyberwar?

[jeffreyab]

Bruce Schneier talks about how a FOURTH cable in the Middle East has been cut:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/02/fourth_undersea.html

Cuts that have cut Iran off the Internet:

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm

If I was trying to hurt a country these days this is one possible move.

A big however is that is also prevents us from knowing what is going on inside.

Comments

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

These outages do demonstrate a lack of responsiveness from the Egyptian Ministry of Telecommunications, but aside from that there isn't much of a story here. Outages like this happen every single day. Some users and businesses are affected by these longer than one might like, and communications providers and national telecommunications companies in the area are taking steps to improve bandwidth and redundancy for their networks.

[siegerat.livejournal.com]

THAT's why my Yahoo! service isn't working ...

I think it's disturbing, but I also think if it's intentional, it's probable and likely that they are being cut off from the inside. Many Middle Eastern countries with sections of unsatisfied populace, and Iran is a good example, would rather prevent their citizens from posting info the Web and getting info. Under Saddam, any sort of Internet/TV cable access was strictly verboten, upon pain of imprisonment and death. Frankly, I think that it's a move more indicative of a country hurting itself. (Just my HO)

[theengineer.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that out of about 50 comments on this matter on Boing Boing, the consensus by far is that it's the work of giant monsters. Out of 112 comments on Bruce Schneier, that idea comes up exactly once.

[rbradakis.livejournal.com]

That would be why I usually read the comments on "Schneier on Security", and never read the comments on Boing Boing.

[theengineer.livejournal.com]

That's why I read both!

[rbradakis.livejournal.com]

Apparently, Iran is not actually offline. Yet.

But yes, I do have to agree that it looks like prep work for a US invasion. How did that commenter phrase it? "Lowering the 21st Century version of the Cone of Silence." If there is nothing coming out of Iran except for the propaganda generated by the Corporation, I mean, Military, then we can only know what we are told.