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Satellite IDs Ships That Cut Cables

Posted by kdawson on from the busted-from-the-sky dept.

1sockchuck writes "Undersea telecom cable operator Reliance Globalcom was able to use satellite images to identify two ships that dropped anchor in the wrong place, damaging submarine cables and knocking Middle East nations offline in early February. The company used satellite images to study the movements of the two ships, and shared the information with officials in Dubai, who impounded the two vessels. The NANOG list has a discussion of where Reliance might have obtained satellite images to provide that level of detail. Google News links more coverage of the developments."

19 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. I hate to say I told you so... by Grym · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And here I was being made to feel like a regular fool for not being 99.99% positive (as "proven" by Bayes' theorem, no less) that the U.S. government (or others) were intentionally disrupting internet services to presumably stop the Iranian Oil Bourse.

    I'll never understand how a technical-minded group such as slashdot that prides itself on objectivity and generally mocks blind faith can, at times, get so easily carried away.

    -Grym

  2. Man, are those guys good, or what? by capnkr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just think - the CIA/NSA/current administration somehow managed to purchase foreign-flagged ships of the line from arguably 'enemy' countries, hiding said purchases from both those governments, our own goverment, and the rest of the world, and then they somehow managed to get them to drop their anchors in just the places needed to cut the proper cables lying submerged on the seabed. They pulled all this off successfully - until YOU managed to figure it out.

    Brilliant!

    Huh? Occam who???

    --
    "...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
    1. Re:Man, are those guys good, or what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Phase 1: Wait until ship stops near cable

      Phase 2: Send stealth submarine to cut cable

      Phase 3: Blame ship, produce satellite images for proof

      Phase 4: Profit

    2. Re:Man, are those guys good, or what? by buildguy · · Score: 4, Funny

      7. Hyperinflation.
      8. Buy a micronation sized chunk of the former United States.
      9. Dystopian Cyberpunk Future!

      --
      You think that's a building. Now this is a building.
    3. Re:Man, are those guys good, or what? by Viceroy+Potatohead · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't be silly!

      The correct step three is:
      Build a fake Earth in New Mexico with a little model ship on it, and take a picture of it with a normal camera.

      Satellites? Pfft. You've bought into the hoax that we've actually sent things into orbit.

    4. Re:Man, are those guys good, or what? by alx5000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Someone set us up the anchor!

      --
      My 0.02 cents
  3. Some more details coming in now.... by superash · · Score: 5, Informative

    Indian officer held for undersea cable damage

    http://www.ibnlive.com/news/indian-officer-held-for-undersea-cable-damage/63234-3.html

  4. Somehow it must be Israel's fault by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The conspiracy nuts are pitiful. I used to think they were all on the right, but now I know there are just as many if not more on the left.

  5. Re:weird, huh? by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And two cables cut by unrelated ships within such a short timeframe? This is soooo conspiracy inducing. Is it? have you even checked the likelihood of that happening? As a matter of fact, in an average year, around 50 undersea cables are broken. Given that there are 365 days in a year, what is the chance of two breaking in 'such a short timeframe?' It doesn't happen every day, but it's not really out of the ordinary. Check these things before you try to dream up a conspiracy.

    Seriously, when it comes to technology slashdot is collectively pretty intelligent; but when it comes to paranoia and politics, slashdot collectively drops down to the IQ of a two year old.
    --
    Qxe4
  6. Thank you Mr. Expert by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it your years in the CIA or your years in the conspiracy nutjob section of the bookstore that make you so knowledgeable?

  7. Nanog Thread by Rufus211 · · Score: 4, Informative

    GMane is a *far* easier interface to read than whatever nanog's official archive uses:
    http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.operators.nanog/54752

  8. Re:Coverup by WaltBusterkeys · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was Iraq and North Korea!

    Except the second ship was South Korean, our ally. North Korea only has a handful of blue water ships. South Korea, electronics manufacturer to the world, has many.

    When in doubt, "Korean" mean South Korean.

  9. Re:weird, huh? by dunezone · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well you finally solved it...

    1. Create Paranoia on Slashdot
    2. Make and Sell Tinfoil Hats
    3. Profit

  10. Re:Cite your sources by WaltBusterkeys · · Score: 5, Informative
    Your wish is the community's command. Here's ZDNet on cable statistics

    According to one paper presented at last year's SubOptic conference in Baltimore, Maryland, rates of cable fault in water over 1km deep are less than 0.1 faults per year, per 1,000km of installed cable. This implies around 50 deepwater repairs per year, globally. At depths of less than 1km, failure rates hovered between 1-2 per 1,000km in the 1990s, but have been steadily declining. According to a SubOptic 2004 paper, the rate in 2003 was 0.2 fault per 1,000km.

    In other words, that's 50 deep-water cuts per year, in addition to some more shallow-water cuts per year.

    Another expert puts it this way:

    He said there are approximately 50 cable cuts a year, 65 percent of which are due to fishing trawlers dragging heavy nets and 18 percent of which are due to shipsâ(TM) anchors. âoeThey donâ(TM)t even track terrorism,â he said. âoeCable cuts are a routine part of the business.â

    These statistics don't include power failures and other problems with cables that arise from the land side; if a switching station goes down then the cable goes dark, even if it's still intact.
  11. Re:Coverup by pipatron · · Score: 4, Informative

    My guess is that it was a South Korean shipping company.

    That's quite likely, since South Korea build the most ships in the world.

    --
    c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
  12. Re:Coverup by WaltBusterkeys · · Score: 5, Informative

    I actually retract my statement above. It's not clear whether the ship is North or South Korean at this point. The only entry in the international ship registry matching an MT Ann ("Merchant Transport Ann") is a North Korean vessel.

    5105 7320069 ANN HMZE6 Oil Products Tanker 22600 1973 12 Korea (North)

    However, there's an "Ankuk" on the same list that's a South Korean ship that would also match:

    5090 8130033 ANKUK NO. 7 Oil Products Tanker 2474 1982 06 Korea (South)

    I'm no expert on ships, so it's possible I'm looking in all the wrong places. Or that there's a translation problem from Korean to English. Maybe somebody else has a better lead?

  13. Images might not have to be that sharp. by F34nor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you take the layout of the deck and then compare it to ships in port at known times and locations it would be easy to ident. ships even with a meter resolution. The color and organization of shipping containers has got to be nearly as good a fingerprint even form space.

  14. Re:Cite your sources by HoppQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    He said there are approximately 50 cable cuts a year, 65 percent of which are due to fishing trawlers dragging heavy nets and 18 percent of which are due to shipsâ(TM) anchors. âoeThey donâ(TM)t even track terrorism,â he said. âoeCable cuts are a routine part of the business.â
    A møøse once bit my sister's cable...
    --
    My sig will be released in 2015 third quarter. Rating pending.
  15. Oblig by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find your ideas intriguing. I would like to purchase stock in your "tinfoil hat" company.