December 2008
Cybercrime and "Remote Search" (2 December 2008)
The Report on "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency" (15 December 2008)
Another Cluster of Cable Cuts (20 December 2008)
Companies, Courts, and Computer Security (30 December 2008)

Another Cluster of Cable Cuts

20 December 2008

News reports say that there has been another cluster of undersea cable cuts affecting the Middle East and south Asia. A cluster early this year gave rise to many conspiracy theories, though that incident was ultimately linked to a ship dragging its anchor.

Naturally, the conspiracy theories are afoot again. If you want to participate, note that

The cuts are causing traffic to be re-routed through the United States and elsewhere.

The answer seems more benign. The BBC story notes that "some seismic activity was reported near Malta shortly before the cut was detected". A quick web search shows a 5.3 magnitude quake near Sicily. (A search shows only one other quake near there, in Greece on December 13.) From the timing, the Sicilian quake didn’t cut the cables directly; it could, however, have left conditions ripe for an underwater landslide.

https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2008-12/2008-12-20.html