21 Oct
1998
21 Oct
'98
9:50 a.m.
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
Other than my boss is an Afican-American... (Native of Nigeria).
-------
21 Oct
21 Oct
10:01 a.m.
On Wed, 21 Oct 1998, Daniel A. Seagraves wrote:
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb
threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
Other than my boss is an Afican-American... (Native of Nigeria).
You fool! What are you still doing in the building?
;)
Maybe they were referring to an e-mail bomb? Once you send it then its
technically "in the building"...
Ok, I'll go away now. If you get blown to bits can I have your DEC stuff?
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 09/21/98]
10:05 a.m.
[Can Sam have my DEC stuff if I get blowed to bits?]
No, in that event, Pat Coefield and Jim Efaw at SSI (where my stuff is stored)
have instructions to not let anyone have it, and preserve the machines for as
long as they can.
But if you feel like hauling it, you could ask nicely...
-------
10:48 a.m.
On Wed, 21 Oct 1998, Daniel A. Seagraves wrote:
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb
threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
Other than my boss is an Afican-American... (Native of Nigeria).
-------
A sad commentary on a form of 'techno-terrorism' that is likely to become
more prevalent as dependency on the 'net' increases.
The commercialization of the Internet has inadvertantly weakened one of
its major design points that was considered to be so critical when the
first ARPA designs were worked out. That being redundancy and lack of
centralization.
Before the major commercial 'backbones' were in place, (set the 'wayback'
machine; Sherman) most systems had multiple shared dial-up connections to
numerous other hosts with which they regularly shared information (email,
news, files, etc.)
If a network connection went down, (if you even had one) or a given host
was offline, traffic was just routed thru another system that indicated
connectivity to the system (or systems) that the traffic was destined for.
(everyone remember the periodic routing 'maps' that went around?)
So... unless you lost ALL of your phone lines for an extended period, you
pretty much always had (some level of) connectivity.
Today, on the other hand (generalization warning!) how many major systems
maintain dial-up inter-system capability even as a backup?
The major infrastructures have tended to centralize around the commercial
'backbones' and carriers which make them succeptable to interruptions of
service when a single connection fails! (Sure... your web servers are fed
by dual 'T3s', but both from a single carrier thru a single POP?!?)
So much in money and resources is often committed to create/maintain a
major (high bandwidth) link onto the net, (useful) redundancy is
frequently sacrificed.
One attack on a major carrier POP (ok, definition time: POP = Point
Of Presence) could easily disrupt Internet traffic for a LOT of people and
corporations.
Take out a couple of the major authoritative DNS servers, and watch the
world (generalization) start crashing down!
Or sadly, target one ISP that is suspected of being a major provider?
It happens... more often than you might ever imagine...
-jim
(I speak for no one but myself... YMMV)
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
11:10 a.m.
The major infrastructures have tended to centralize
around the commercial
'backbones' and carriers which make them succeptable to interruptions of
service when a single connection fails! (Sure... your web servers are fed
by dual 'T3s', but both from a single carrier thru a single POP?!?)
You are quite correct, but let me expand on it.
Most customers do get only one circuit to a backbone, and yes the things
go down. T1 or T3, or whatever you have, 99.9 percent of the time it goes
thru _one_ CSU and/or _one_ router. If the CSU dies or the router starts
flapping, the customer gets very upset. It is possible to have a customer
home multiple circuits into multiple routers (it is a bit difficult, and
not terribly efficient), but it just ain't done that way.
The problem lies within the confines of the POPs. On a greater scale, just
as the ARPA people envisioned, the backbones are very bulletproof. If a
circuit goes down between two POPs (largish ones, anyway), there will
always be another circuit to take the load. Sure, it may go thru an extra
transit router or two, and may saturate them, but the net will still be
up.
Thank goodness that most of the equipment deployed to make the Internet is
built like tanks.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net
22 Oct
22 Oct
12:02 p.m.
New subject: [off topic] Bomb Threat../pub/users/markg/util/xkey.c.Z
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21 Oct
21 Oct
11:21 a.m.
New subject: [off topic] Bomb Threat../pub/users/markg/util/xkey.c.Z
You can effectively cut off the US (and possibly
North America) by just
taking out two locations: a parking garage in Virginia and a similar
location in California. 2/3 of all global Internet traffic goes through MAE-EAST
and MAE-WEST.
Yes traffic goes thru these now, in an "unbombed" state, but there are
plenty of smaller interconnects all over the place that could take over.
Anyway, I think you could drop all the bombs you want on MAE-E. Same with
Sprint-NAP - built like something out of "The Guns of Navarone".
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net
4:22 p.m.
At 11:50 AM 10/21/98 -0700, you wrote:
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
A lot of times because someone that works there wants the afternoon off.
Or someone that just wants to harass the company, for any reason or none
at all.
Joe
-------
22 Oct
22 Oct
4:55 a.m.
At 11:50 AM 10/21/98 -0700, you wrote:
exactly
in greece we had that happening in junior high and high school about 4 or 5
times a yr
nasos
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
A lot of times because someone that works there wants the afternoon off. 
21 Oct
21 Oct
5:28 p.m.
This is kinda off topic, but we've just had a bomb
threat!
No joke! Someone phoned in, asked for my boss, and said they
put a bomb in the building! Why would someone bomb an ISP?
Other than my boss is an Afican-American... (Native of Nigeria).
-------
For your sake I hope you didn't answer the phone. When I was in the Navy I
made the mistake of answering the phone. Next thing I knew I was halfway
across the base half out of uniform, grilled, and then left to find my own
way back to the ship.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
5:51 p.m.
For your sake I hope you didn't answer the phone.
When I was in the Navy I
made the mistake of answering the phone. Next thing I knew I was halfway
across the base half out of uniform, grilled, and then left to find my own
way back to the ship.
I don't get it. Am I confused or is this a silly joke?
If you don't answer the phone then you don't know what the caller wants.
(OK, you could have Caller ID, but a random number -- which may be a pay
phone -- doesn't automatically mean "bomb threat".)
-- Derek
7 p.m.
New subject: [way off topic] (was Re: [off topic] Bomb Threat.)
Zane H. Healy wrote:
For your sake I hope you didn't answer the phone.
When I was in the Navy I
made the mistake of answering the phone. Next thing I knew I was halfway
across the base half out of uniform, grilled, and then left to find my own
way back to the ship.
Derek Peschel replied:
I don't get it. Am I confused or is this a silly
joke?
If you don't answer the phone then you don't know what the caller wants.
(OK, you could have Caller ID, but a random number -- which may be a pay
phone -- doesn't automatically mean "bomb threat".)
The point wasn't that you shouldn't answer the phone if it's a bomb threat.
The point was that you're unfortunate if you happen to be the poor slob that
*does* answer the phone when it happens to be a bomb threat, because you
can expect quite a grilling by the police/military/whoever.
8:41 p.m.
New subject: [way off topic] (was Re: [off topic] Bomb Threat.)
The point wasn't that you shouldn't answer the
phone if it's a bomb threat.
The point was that you're unfortunate if you happen to be the poor slob that
*does* answer the phone when it happens to be a bomb threat, because you
can expect quite a grilling by the police/military/whoever.
Oh. That makes a lot more sense.
I don't know if "made the mistake of answering the phone" (which is what
Zane
said) is really the right phrase, though.
-- Derek
22 Oct
22 Oct
7:10 a.m.
New subject: [way off topic] (was Re: [off topic] Bomb Threat.)
D. Peschel wrote:
Having spent much of my career in technical support and system
administration, "made the mistake of answering the phone" is usually
the right phrase.
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
The point wasn't that you shouldn't
answer the phone if it's a bomb threat.
The point was that you're unfortunate if you happen to be the poor slob that
*does* answer the phone when it happens to be a bomb threat, because you
can expect quite a grilling by the police/military/whoever.
Oh. That makes a lot more sense.
I don't know if "made the mistake of answering the phone" (which is what
Zane
said) is really the right phrase, though.
6:35 a.m.
New subject: [way off topic] (was Re: [off topic] Bomb Threat.)
Eric Smith wrote:
Zane H. Healy wrote:
Think about the poor bastard who found the pipe bomb at the
Atlanta Olympics, for instance.
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
For your sake I hope you didn't answer the
phone. When I was in the Navy I
made the mistake of answering the phone. Next thing I knew I was halfway
across the base half out of uniform, grilled, and then left to find my own
way back to the ship.
Derek Peschel replied:
I don't get it. Am I confused or is this a
silly joke?
If you don't answer the phone then you don't know what the caller wants.
(OK, you could have Caller ID, but a random number -- which may be a pay
phone -- doesn't automatically mean "bomb threat".)
The point wasn't that you shouldn't answer the phone if it's a bomb threat.
The point was that you're unfortunate if you happen to be the poor slob that
*does* answer the phone when it happens to be a bomb threat, because you
can expect quite a grilling by the police/military/whoever.
3:35 a.m.
[Did I answer the phone?]
No, the telephone-firewall (secretary) did.
(She performs the phone verson of your firewall - Keeps the idiots out)
-------
9411
days inactive
9412
days old
16 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
a.kotsenos＠rca.ac.uk -
dastar＠ncal.verio.com -
dpeschel＠u.washington.edu -
DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
gram＠cnct.com -
healyzh＠ix.netcom.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
rigdonj＠intellistar.net -
spc＠armigeron.com -
william＠ans.net