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One Old Woman With Shovel Takes Armenia Offline
'The Spade Hacker' Impacts 3 Million Internet Users
An elderly Georgian woman digging for scrap copper managed to slice through an underground cable, resulting in the entire nearby country of Armenia losing Internet access for five hours, according to The Guardian. Georgia provides 90% of the connectivity to its neighboring country, but with the primary line cut -- and redundancy pretty clearly an issue -- Armenian ISPs ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa were left struggling to answer complaints by the nation's 3.2 million citizens. The woman, dubbed "the spade-hacker" by local media, was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but "could face more questioning."
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hawk82
join:2001-04-26
centralmaine

hawk82

Member

No redundancy?

Needs more protected SONET ring. Edit: I seem to remember 6 or more years ago a similar incident happened with a largish CLEC in this state, where a farmer was setting a fence post and severed a fiber line. Internet was down for most of the day. I think that CLEC has since built out a ring.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Re: No redundancy?

Clearly.

Also, I do not envy the tech support departments at Armenian ISPs...
Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

Joe12345678

Member

Re: No redundancy?

tech support departments do not have much to do with the cable running departments.

Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

Re: No redundancy?

said by Joe12345678:

tech support departments do not have much to do with the cable running departments.

No, but they are the ones who took the angry phone calls when 3.2 million people couldn't update their Facebook status!
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: No redundancy?

said by Camelot One:

said by Joe12345678:

tech support departments do not have much to do with the cable running departments.

No, but they are the ones who took the angry phone calls when 3.2 million people couldn't update their Facebook status!

Bingo when the fan gets struck by high velocity feces, Tech support is who hears angry phone calls. the cable people just have to deal with re-splicing some cables.

EGeezer
Premium Member
join:2002-08-04
Midwest

EGeezer to hawk82

Premium Member

to hawk82
I remember hearing the "farmer setting fencepost" and "farmer burying a dead cow" stories from the old Bell company, ATT, baby bells etc. several times during my career. It's a great story for the service provider to shuffle off a business client whose phone or data comm service was down.
burger2000
join:2001-06-25
Madison, WI

burger2000

Member

Re: No redundancy?

Last summer we had a small outage from a broken fiber feeding the Lake Mills, WI area. The aerial run cuts through this farmer's pasture and that weekend they decided to do some skeet shooting. There were just a few bright orange chunks of clay and when presented with this after we walked off the damaged area and the farmer had stated nothing happened all weekend, "well I guess yes we were shooting here." No physical damage just a shot hit the fiber hard enough to snap some glass inside. These things do happen.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to hawk82

Premium Member

to hawk82
An entire country depending on 1 link? But they are probably rated by the UN as providing better Internet service than the US.

tmh
@qwest.net

tmh

Anon

Black Wire

Maybe the same elderly woman was the mastermind behind this incident?

from »articles.latimes.com/200 ··· ck-wire7

This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of congested Tysons Corner in McLean, Va., hit a fiber-optic cable no one knew was there.

This part doesn't: Within moments, three black SUVs drove up, half a dozen men in suits jumped out, and one said, "You just hit our line."

The CIA doesn't mess around when their pr0n feed gets cut.

Donut
join:2005-06-27
Romulus, MI

Donut

Member

Re: Black Wire

LOLz
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to tmh

Premium Member

to tmh
said by tmh :

Maybe the same elderly woman was the mastermind behind this incident?

from »articles.latimes.com/200 ··· ck-wire7

This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of congested Tysons Corner in McLean, Va., hit a fiber-optic cable no one knew was there.

This part doesn't: Within moments, three black SUVs drove up, half a dozen men in suits jumped out, and one said, "You just hit our line."

The CIA doesn't mess around when their pr0n feed gets cut.

and I'd love it if it was 12noon and it was a union jobsite and the forman told the suits. Sorry guys that backhoe cant move until 12:30 official union lunch. too bad you dumbasses did not tell Call Before you Dig you put a line through this lot like AT&T, Level 3 and Comcast did.
burger2000
join:2001-06-25
Madison, WI

burger2000

Member

Re: Black Wire

Exactly. You'd think something like this would have a front company with a contract for local locators to mark up their fiber and just have it say telecommunications. Or they do it themselves because once hit when the MIB show up it'll turn a lot more heads than just having it marked ever will.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to tmh

Premium Member

to tmh
Actually that is a good point, they can make front companies for anything.

Heck just call it something stupid and local like. "Beltway Communications"
mworks
join:2006-06-13
Rose Hill, NC

mworks

Member

Scrap copper, eh ?

She just wants everyone to think it was an accident. But in reality she is probably on the Armenian mobs payroll and took it out just when a certain sporting event final score was to be posted !
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

3rd world internet

Theres 3rd world internet service for you. Arent you happy you live in the USA where isps dont use "carrier grade" linksys equipment?
rmdir
join:2003-03-13
Chicago, IL

1 recommendation

rmdir

Member

Re: 3rd world internet

Maybe she had just gotten her ISP's email about 250GB caps and decided to pay them back.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList to patcat88

Premium Member

to patcat88
could've fooled me. jk jk

AlexNYC
join:2001-06-02
Edwards, CO

AlexNYC

Member

Hacker

Now that's what I call a real "hacker"!

!
fptraders
Premium Member
join:2007-02-23
Las Vegas, NV

fptraders

Premium Member

Their Government has it easy...

Looks like when that country eventually goes into civil unrest, Armenia will literally be able to "unplug the internet".

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Google is going to hire her for the KC build out.

The woman, dubbed "the spade-hacker" by local media, was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but "could face more questioning." by Google.
BHNtechXpert
The One & Only
Premium Member
join:2006-02-16
Saint Petersburg, FL

BHNtechXpert

Premium Member

Re: Google is going to hire her for the KC build out.

said by batterup:

The woman, dubbed "the spade-hacker" by local media, was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but "could face more questioning." by Google.

LOL!

Slava
MVM
join:2001-02-04
Fair Lawn, NJ

Slava

MVM

Isn't it a few days to late?

For an April fools joke.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Isn't it a few days to late?

man those isp break alot of laws. going into some ones land and not telling them their laying lines

Davesworld
join:2007-10-30
Thermal, CA

Davesworld

Member

Re: Isn't it a few days to late?

said by firedrakes:

man those isp break alot of laws. going into some ones land and not telling them their laying lines

Who said she was on her land?

mix
join:2002-03-19
Romeo, MI

mix

Member

Internet meets Third World

Armenian media is reporting that the woman responsible for cutting the underground cable will be stoned to death at noon on Sunday.

N9MD
Too busy to chat
Premium Member
join:2005-10-08
Boca Raton, FL

1 recommendation

N9MD

Premium Member

Redundany? Reduncy? Here's real Redundancy!

said by mix:

Armenian media is reporting that the woman responsible for cutting the underground cable will be stoned to death at noon on Sunday.

Not a problem. Unlike the Armenian telecommunications system, this "old" (probably 50 years of age) woman has 12 children and 93 grandchildren ... all equipped with shovels. Now, that's REDUNDANCY!
kerya666
join:2002-12-20
Valrico, FL

kerya666 to mix

Member

to mix

Re: Internet meets Third World

Wow, ignorant much? Not even funny...

I do wonder where she was digging however.

mix
join:2002-03-19
Romeo, MI

mix

Member

Re: Internet meets Third World

You're right, stealing copper wire is not funny.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: Internet meets Third World

said by mix:

You're right, stealing copper wire is not funny.

It was twisted coat hanger wire. Twisted copper and fiber too expensive for internet service in Armenia.

non325
@mich.net

non325

Anon

bury the wire a bit deeper?

Maybe it's just me but doesn't it seem like that wire should have been buried a bit deeper?