The FBI is investigating at least 11 incidents in California where an unknown person or persons are sneaking into unmonitored underground vaults and severing high-capacity Internet cables.
The disruptions have all taken place in the last year and range from the San Francisco Bay Area to Sacramento, according to a USA Today report.
The latest attack disrupted service to various businesses and residents around California’s capital city. The fiber-optic cables in this case were used to carry data between hubs before being distributed to homes and small businesses.
Mark Peterson, a spokesman for a local Internet provider in the area who’s customers were affected by the outage, said he characterized the attack as “coordinated.”
According to reports, the cable-snipping saboteur(s) generally attacks concealed locations that are not monitored by security cameras.
“When it affects multiple companies and cities, it does become disturbing,” said FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich. “We definitely need the public’s assistance.”
Richard Doherty, research director of technology assessment and market research firm The Envisioneering Group, said the problem is the lines are too easy to access.
“There are flags and signs indicating to somebody who wants to do damage: This is where it is folks,” he said. “You often have fiber from several companies sometimes going down the same street or the same trench. One attacker can dig one hole and wipe out service from three companies.”
While the FBI has not commented on a motive, there have been protests in the tech-rich sector voicing disdain for the gentrification that tech companies such as Google have brought to the area.
