From: InfoSec News (alertsinfosecnews.org)
Date: Mon Apr 16 2007 - 00:27:08 CDT

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http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2007/041607backspin.html

Backspin
By Mark Gibbs
Network World
04/13/07

Several readers wrote in after last week's column [1] to ask whether it
was a good idea to tell the bad guys about One Wilshire -- the carrier
hotel inhabited by a bunch of Tier 1 service providers -- and how to
find it.

Reader Charlie Clarke wrote: "I found your column extremely interesting
and extremely disturbing. I may simply be unnecessarily paranoid, but as
an IT person in a Southern California financial institution, I found
that the revelations in your column about the amount of network
infrastructure at a specific address (in not one but two buildings) on a
specifically identified busy street corner in downtown L.A. sent me into
a cold sweat."

Clarke continued: "Pre-9/11, I wouldn't have given it a second thought,
but now it seems foolhardy at the very least to toss out such specific
information when a general nod toward 'buildings on the west side of
L.A.' would have sufficed. A truck bomb of the type used to devastate
the Murrow Building in Oklahoma City would do untold damage to this
vital network infrastructure."

I asked John Savageau, managing director of CRG West, the company that
owns One Wilshire, for comment, and he replied: "This is a frequent
topic of conversation. We are well known by agencies watching this type
of activity, and we are at the end of a very short tether for emergency
services within L.A. -- as are all our colleagues in the industry."

Savageau pointed out that it isn't just One Wilshire and the other
carrier hotel facilities in downtown L.A. that are at risk. The stakes
are far greater than that and, as a consequence, there are a lot more
people paying attention to the entire area's safety than we're aware of.

Savageau went on to note that we live in a packet world, and nearly all
the United States and international carriers in One Wilshire have
replaced or are replacing circuit switch and Digital Access Carrier
System equipment with softswitches and Dense Wavelength-Division
Multiplexing gear. "There is an alternate route available for nearly all
services through Las Vegas or Northern California serving all
facilities-based carriers in Los Angeles -- all interconnected at
numerous L.A. and L.A.-area fiber-optic terminals supporting both metro
and long-distance cable.

"Yes, a [9/11 style disaster] at One Wilshire would cause serious damage
to global communications in the short term," he said. "However, with all
the talented and dedicated telecom engineers in L.A. and the global
community, I am confident all but the smallest single-threaded
operations would be recovered within a surprisingly short amount of
time. One Wilshire is important due to the proximity and ease of
interconnection. However, that interconnection can occur in many
places."

That really underlines what humans have created: A global communications
system that does, as intended, route around damage.

Savageau concluded by pointing out that his "office is smack at the
intersection of Wilshire and Grand. As I type this message I am
confident not only in our security, the intelligence of our public
safety, national/international anti-terrorist agencies, and first
responders to reinforce security at One Wilshire, but also in our
industry's ability to recover from disaster. . . . We have had this
discussion many, many times with a lot of different people in
governments (we do hold a key role in the national interests of many
countries), companies and law enforcement. Can't give you details, but I
am confident we'll continue to meet the needs of our industry for a long
time."

I found his perspective refreshing in the face of the alarmism that
appears whenever terrorism is discussed. In IT we know we can never be
truly safe, but we're smart enough to be prepared to deal with the worst
if it ever happens. Perhaps we need to have telecom people in charge of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency?

Comments to backspin (at) gibbs.com. To join the Gibbs Irregulars go to
www.gibbs.com/girr.htm.

[1] http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2007/040607backspin.html

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