10.04.2009 09:21 Uhr, Quelle: Engadget

Vandals take down Internet, emergency, and voice services in California

Feeling vulnerable? Maybe you should. Apparently, taking down the Internet, ATMs, and landline and wireless phone services is as easy as crawling down a few strategically located manholes and hacking through some fiber optic cables. Police in California suspect exactly that after "vandals" cut 10 fiber optic cables (each containing between 48 and 360 fibers) at 4 locations on Thursday morning. The AT&T and Sprint cables knocked "tens of thousands" of San Francisco, Bay Area residents off the grid including an additional 52,000 Verizon landline and wireless customers. San Jose spokesman, Sgt. Ronnie Lopez, says that Vandals somehow managed to thwart the safeguards securing this important element of the US infrastructure. "The manhole covers are heavy," he said, "and would take quite an eff

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