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    Europe's Internet resilience mitigates impact of submarine cable cuts

    (blog.cloudflare.com)
    122 points hampus | 13 comments | 20 Nov 24 22:10 UTC | HN request time: 1.073s | source | bottom
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    anonymousDan ◴[20 Nov 24 23:08 UTC] No.42199097[source]▶
    One important question that I'm unclear on is how long it takes to fix one of these cables. If it takes months then that is quite a wide window in which an attacker could incrementally take down cables.
    replies(5): >>42199191 #>>42199277 #>>42199299 #>>42199350 #>>42201672 #
    1. booi ◴[20 Nov 24 23:33 UTC] No.42199277[source]▶
    Generally it can be fixed in days. They raise it from the sea floor and splice in a new cable section.
    replies(2): >>42199352 #>>42200621 #
    2. mistyvales ◴[20 Nov 24 23:42 UTC] No.42199352[source]▶
    Crazy that you can splice optical cable..
    replies(3): >>42199397 #>>42199495 #>>42199622 #
    3. dgfitz ◴[20 Nov 24 23:46 UTC] No.42199397[source]▶
    I mean… they get terminated somehow, right?
    replies(1): >>42199812 #
    4. neom ◴[20 Nov 24 23:59 UTC] No.42199495[source]▶
    Today, we're going to talk to John Owens and learn about the process of splicing fiber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zN20ZVInfU
    5. UltraSane ◴[21 Nov 24 00:14 UTC] No.42199622[source]▶
    They actually have very cool devices that will automatically align and fuse two fibers and estimate the loss of the bond.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_C0XLLyR0

    replies(1): >>42200329 #
    6. dmoy ◴[21 Nov 24 00:40 UTC] No.42199812{3}[source]▶
    True, but splicing without leaving behind a powered repeater is different from the final termination with active electronics on the end.

    It's pretty cool tech

    replies(1): >>42200084 #
    7. dgfitz ◴[21 Nov 24 01:28 UTC] No.42200084{4}[source]▶
    I’m saying you can terminate cleanly without needing a repeater.

    To be clear, I’m saying to terminate each end of the cut cable to a terminating device that continues the flow of light, not just the termination at the beginning/end of the line. Sorry if that wasn’t obvious.

    8. ahnick ◴[21 Nov 24 02:03 UTC] No.42200329{3}[source]▶
    how much do one of those bad boys cost?
    replies(1): >>42200756 #
    9. scheme271 ◴[21 Nov 24 02:52 UTC] No.42200621[source]▶
    True but ships and crews with the equipment to do the repairs are limited. It's possible to overwhelm the repair capacities. Also, it takes time to physically travel between cuts so while cuts in the Baltic might take a week or two to fix, a cut in the Atlantic and one in the Baltic may take a week or two just for travel.
    replies(1): >>42200853 #
    10. UltraSane ◴[21 Nov 24 03:17 UTC] No.42200756{4}[source]▶
    The cheapest ones are surprisingly cheap at less than $1,000 and the highest end ones are $10,000
    11. shmerl ◴[21 Nov 24 03:35 UTC] No.42200853[source]▶
    If someone will try to overwhelm the repair capacities for integral communications, they'll be dealt with like pirates - simply sunk and be done with.
    replies(1): >>42201308 #
    12. LtWorf ◴[21 Nov 24 05:05 UTC] No.42201308{3}[source]▶
    As if they know which ship did this…
    replies(1): >>42201401 #
    13. shmerl ◴[21 Nov 24 05:25 UTC] No.42201401{4}[source]▶
    They already know. The captain will probably end up in prison for a long time, and company which owns the ship will pay for the deliberate damage. Would be good too if they can crack who from the crew works for Russian saboteurs besides the captain. Unlikely it's just one person.