Iran is NOT off the air.

[DireStrike]

A story is going around that the cut/damaged/offline/whatever undersea cables have resulted in Iran being taken completely offline, or being the most affected by the outages. Neither of these is true.

http://cryptogon.com/?p=1980

The “No Internet in Iran” Story is Bullcrap, but that Didn’t Stop 17 People from Submitting it
February 4th, 2008

I don’t expect people to know much about computers, but the story about Iran having no Internet access is complete nonsense.

It scares the living crap out of me that so many Cryptogon readers are propagating this nonsense without even trying to verify whether or not the story is true. (In fairness, one Cryptogon reader who submitted it later wrote that, by the same measure, Florida had no Internet services. HAHA)

The page that all of you are submitting monitors one router, which happens to be down, at the Iran University of Science and Technology. Somehow, through the magic bullshit amplification powers of the Intertubes, the fact that one router is down at an Iranian university has snowballed into “Iran is off the air.”

Oh really?

Why not check out the Iran University of Science and Technology’s homepage?

http://www.iust.ac.ir
IP: 194.225.230.89
Machine Location: Tehran, Iran

How about the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

http://www.mfa.gov.ir
IP: 217.172.99.41
Machine Location: Tehran, Iran

How about the Central Bank of The Islamic Republic of Iran?

http://www.cbi.ir
IP: 217.218.174.178
Machine Location: Tehran, Iran

Hint: Don’t believe everything you read on Reddit and Slashdot.

More: ATTENTION: Iran is not disconnected!

That said, I don't believe the damage is a coincidence. If three (or more) cables were physically cut in such a short timespan, nobody should.

[nightrider767]

1. Thanks for spoiling a very interesting story!

I rank you right up there with the Grinch who stole Christmas!

Killing the fun with your "factyness". I hope you're happy!

:sarcasm:

Thanks for the info.

Peace.

[dipsydoodle]

2. There should be a clearly visible difference

between a ripped or torn cable and a cut cable. Be interesting to see what the outcome of the physical inspection is.

[DireStrike]

3. Not necessarily

If I wanted to cut a cable and get away with it, I'd drag an anchor over it so they look exactly the same.

Still, the very fact that 3 or 4 cables were physically damaged in such a short timespan is highly suspect. (Or is it? Anyone work in the field? How often do these things get cut? When's the last time 3 or 4 have been cut inside a week?)

I'm very hungry for more info on this story as well.

[lapfog_1]

7. Undersea marine cables

once installed and functioning, by and large do not suffer breakdowns.

I used to consult for Level 3 networks and marine cables are very very reliable.

In fact, I believe the very first trans-atlantic cable operated by the Bell System (1950's) was still operational up until the mid 1990's. 48 channels!

That said, the first cables suffered about 1 outage per year per cable, often due to fishing trawlers (and not just anchor drops, but nets and/or drag lines catching a cable).

Modern cables are buried to avoid the fishing issues, though not to a great depth below the ocean bottom. However, they are very reliable once installed and tested. 3 or 4 cables to the same area being cut within a week of each other is highly unlikely to be accidental.

Two of the cut cables travel through the Suez canal (where they are much more accessible to anyone with minor resources). I haven't seen reliable information yet about where the cable breaks have occurred, only which cables have been severed.

From Wikipedia:

In late January 2008, the breaking of two of the three Suez Canal cables (SEA-ME-WE 4 and Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe), and a third cable in the Persian Gulf two days later (FALCON) caused massive communications disruptions to India and the Middle East.<11><12>. A fourth cable which links Qatar with the United Arab Emirates has been reported damaged.

[onenote]

11. one of the first cases I worked on involved a contract to build a undersea cable repair vessel

It was back in the late 70s/early 80s and involved a challenge to a government contract awarded to a particular shipbuilder to construct a vessel specifically designed to repair undersea cable. So presumably, someone thinks that these cable get damaged from time to time.

[lapfog_1]

13. Oh they do...

and repeaters need to be replaced and so on.

They represent a major investment, so repairing them is much more desirable then replacing them. Not to mention faster. However, especially for modern designed cables, breakdowns are becoming rare.

But having 3 (or maybe 4) cables break within a few days of each other, in the same region, and without a seismic event or major (and I mean MAJOR) weather event, is just unlikely in the extreme.

[DireStrike]

18. Thanks for your insight

:hi:

You too, onenote!

[flamin lib]

4. Maybe not completely cut off, but seriously hampered depending on

what you read.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/510232-flag-plays-down-net-blackout-conspiracy-theories?ln=en

http://mathaba.net/news/?x=580660

[DireStrike]

6. Yes, hampered definitely.

http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/02/attention_iran_is_not_disconne_1.shtml">This report was linked in the original story that I quoted. It's got some more in-depth analysis of the problems going on.

[EnviroBat]

5. I'd visit those sites to check it out but I'm ah skered...

I would get dissapeared in the middle of the night and sent to Gitmo. Terrah terrah terrah, 9/11...!

Out

[BrotherBuzz]

10. You're not alone

;)

[uppityperson]

8. Thank you for pointing out Iran is NOT disconnected,.

I wonder about the coincidence also, but am tired of hearing/reading OMGIRANISDISCONNECTED as it isn't. Thanks.

[Robbien]

9. The rumor is based on the internet traffic report on

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm

which has this graphic up



Don't know what this means really because the site also says Germany is down but I don't see any news reports about Germany being off the net. And it says Columbia is down, but Columbia seems all right to me.

[DireStrike]

19. What it means

this is the report referenced in the cryptogon post I quoted. It means that one particular server, (router1.iust.ac.ir) is down.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Proof Of The Old Adage...

A rumor runs around the world while the truth puts its pants on...

I see this thread is over an hour old with a handfull of recs and replies. Now if it had confirmed the rumor, it'd be on the front page. Go figger.

:rofl:

Thank you for the post!

[malaise]

14. LOL

K & R

[Marie26]

15. K&R

You should post this on the other threads, as well.

[L. Coyote]

16. The Internets is NOT a series of tubes, but it nonetheless dumps large truckloads of BS sometimes.

[caseycoon]

17. K&R Thanks for posting this! n/t