ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville • Hacker News Board

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#371

Post by soniman » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:01 AM UTC

Sylamore wrote: post #341

h2odragon wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> institutional incompetence, or malice, or laziness. AT&T in TN is an epic example of all 3 and then some. The most recent unbelievably stupid thing I've personally observed was the construction of 15 miles of new fiber on county power poles; right beside a Verizon fiber line that had been there for a decade. They put no slack loops in theirs, VZW's run has many. that line went up this year, and has been torn down a…

I can't speak for the telco side of the business, but I do know that AT&T leadership has been telling their enterprise IT side of the business to throw out many prior requirements to built HA into things, and to reduce the portion of systems set aside to handle unplanned events. One of the justifications has been that such planning and built-in headroom is virtually never used. They are rapidly shutting down most of…

ATT has more debt than the Phillipines, it's no surprise that they're trying to cut costs.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#372

Post by octoberfranklin » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:04 AM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #363

octoberfranklin wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon, with nail polish.

You are not wrong.

Username checks out.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#373

Post by DebtDeflation » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:10 AM UTC

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #347

jeffbee wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facilities don't really keep that large of an inventory of fuel on site. Usually once they start running they have to call for fuel immediately and be regularly refueled until power is restored. They don't have a week of fuel or anything like that. I don't see why natural gas is such a bad backup for utility electric. It doesn't share fate with the electric grid and it's buried. Seems pretty good.

How long will the gas grid keep working without electricity? Sure, the pressure is likely maintained from a reservoir, but many of the control systems likely depend on electricity, and I could imagine some being fail-safe (solenoids holding valves open and shutting if power fails).

For a very long time. The natural gas infrastructure uses natural gas generators to run the pumps that pressurize the lines and the meters are 100% mechanical. There's no reliance on the electrical grid. I lived through Northeast Blackout of 2003 (visible from space, the extent was so great) and Hurricane Sandy (power was out for a week) and in neither case was there an interruption to natural gas service. In my 40+ years, I don't ever recall the natural gas service ever going "out".

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#374

Post by m1sta_ » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:13 AM UTC

joshuakelly wrote: post #22

This article doesn't make this so explicit, but ATT infrastructure appears to be the intentional target of the bombing. You can see the building in the helicopter shot at the top of the NYTimes article on the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/us/nashville-explosion.ht... Obviously a telecommunications/switch hub, with it being a large windowless building in a downtown core. The other thing that's particularly…

Trigger failover. Access data.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#375

Post by m1sta_ » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:17 AM UTC

nr2x wrote: post #215

joshuakelly wrote: post #22

This article doesn't make this so explicit, but ATT infrastructure appears to be the intentional target of the bombing. You can see the building in the helicopter shot at the top of the NYTimes article on the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/us/nashville-explosion.ht... Obviously a telecommunications/switch hub, with it being a large windowless building in a downtown core. The other thing that's particularly…

FAIRVIEW source for VOIP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairview_(surveillance_program...

Just a coincidence. Like all of the Trump Russia links.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#376

Post by Cyberthal » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:23 AM UTC

Likely an attempt to stop Dominion forensic investigation, headed by AT&T. A suicide bombing via RV.

This is just my impression from today's news skimming. Needs verification.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#377

Post by m1sta_ » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:26 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #4

Threeve303 wrote: post #2

Watching the impact on the network through downdetector today has been interesting. If I wanted to be conspiratorial I'm reminded of Room 641A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

What sort of conspiracy are you imagining here? Someone exploded an RV in an entertainment district so that AT&T had an excuse to disable service while the NSA installed wiretaps? I think that as investigations unfold, that will not end up being what happened. Just a guess though.

The failover resulted in breached infrastructure being engaged. The explosion could also have been to cover up a cyber attack that required some kind of physical network access.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#378

Post by tomjen3 » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:34 AM UTC

joshuakelly wrote: post #22

This article doesn't make this so explicit, but ATT infrastructure appears to be the intentional target of the bombing. You can see the building in the helicopter shot at the top of the NYTimes article on the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/us/nashville-explosion.ht... Obviously a telecommunications/switch hub, with it being a large windowless building in a downtown core. The other thing that's particularly…

The IRAs most successful bombings targeted the financial hubs with plenty of warning so they cost massive monetary damages, but no loss of life.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#379

Post by mytailorisrich » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:41 AM UTC

gizmo686 wrote: post #266

joshuakelly wrote: post #22

This article doesn't make this so explicit, but ATT infrastructure appears to be the intentional target of the bombing. You can see the building in the helicopter shot at the top of the NYTimes article on the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/us/nashville-explosion.ht... Obviously a telecommunications/switch hub, with it being a large windowless building in a downtown core. The other thing that's particularly…

Sending a warning before a bombing isn't that uncommon. It's less common (although not entirely unheard of) if the bombing is a terrorist attack. But if, as you suggest, that target is infrastructure, the only real reason to not give a warning is tactical. WIthout knowing who is responsible for it, it is possible they wanted to inflict whatever damage they had in mind, without causing any loss of life or human injuri…

Targeting infrastructure can be terrorism as well, it does not require aiming at killing people.

Terrorism is unlawfully using violence, especially against civilians, to achieve a political aim.

Re: ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

#380

Post by concordDance » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 11:48 AM UTC

vageli wrote: post #129

vkou wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your definition is not quite accurate. Some forms of violence performed to promote an ideology are called war. In fact, war is by far the most common, and the most destructive form of 'violence used to promote an ideology'.

Why do you think war is not terrorizing/terrorism?

The current popular meaning of terrorism was made up by certain state actors to justify their actions. So naturally they included a "doesn't apply to states" clause in their definition.