Online disruption after internet backbone cables are cut in CA
Vandals have struck in California's Bay Area leading to a disruption to web traffic. The FBI is investigating the incident which occurred when several fiber optic cables were severed in Livermore, around 50 miles east of San Francisco.
The attack took place at about 4.30 am PT Tuesday, and caused problems for ISPs as well as Microsoft Azure. Backbone providers were hit hard, and web users over a wide area suffered from reduced performance. This is far from being the first attack on internet cables in the area, and the FBI is seeking help from anyone with information that could bring the perpetrators to justice.
In the last year, there have been 11 attacks on fiber optic cables and investigations are still on-going. The FBI says that cables have been intentionally severed and calls on those who saw anything to come forward.
"Anyone who may have been in these areas during these times and saw anything either suspicious or related to normal telecommunications maintenance is urged to contact the FBI. The individuals may appear to be normal telecommunications maintenance workers or possess tools consistent with that job role."
At the moment it is not known whether any or all of the attacks are related.
The problem was fixed by last night, but not until countless online and phone services were affected. The Microsoft Azure status website shows an advisory for West US and South Central US:
From approximately 14:45 UTC to 21:45 on 30 Jun, 2015 UTC customers may have experienced intermittent connectivity issues to Azure services deployed in West US and South Central US. Root cause for this issue is attributed to a fiber cuts in the Western US Region. This incident has now been mitigated.
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