[iwar] [fc:NYT:.Attacks.Expose.Telephone's.Soft.Underbelly]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-15 12:43:16


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:NYT:.Attacks.Expose.Telephone's.Soft.Underbelly]
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NYT: Attacks Expose Telephone's Soft Underbelly 
By Simon Romero, NY Times, 10/15/2001
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/15/technology/15PHON.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/15/technology/15PHON.html>

Joseph Pennell, the prolific illustrator who often depicted the
cityscape of Lower Manhattan in his prints, called the New York
Telephone Building "the most impressive modern building in the world"
when it was completed in 1926. 

How antiquated it now seems.

The 32-story structure at 140 West Street, one of the city's first Art
Deco skyscrapers, is now owned by New York Telephone's descendant,
Verizon Communications (news/quote). And the heavy damage the building
sustained on Sept. 11 underscores the vulnerability of communications
networks operated by Verizon and other telephone companies - sprawling
systems that rely heavily on critical hubs. 
In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it became commonplace to comment
on how well the Internet performed because it was designed to route
traffic around damage. But the telephone network, including the
dedicated data lines that are used by big corporations, financial
institutions and others, does not have the Internet's self-detouring
abilities.

When they work, the telephone network's voice and data lines can be
superior in quality and carrying capacity to the Internet. Yet when the
telephone network is damaged, it cannot heal itself.

And while Verizon has worked almost around the clock the last month to
restore operations at 140 West Street and service to its customers, the
company has indicated that significantly reducing the building's network
vulnerabilities would require more time or money than Verizon is willing
to expend. 
Verizon's building was near the north tower of the World Trade Center
and next door to 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed several hours
after the attacks. Falling rubble and steel girders tore into 140 West
Street, which housed one of the nation's busiest telephone central
office switching stations. When fully operable, it serves a customer
base comparable in number with all the telephone lines in a city the
size of Cincinnati. 
After electric power for the building was interrupted, service was
temporarily disrupted for more than 300,000 telephone lines and 3.6
million high-capacity data circuits, many serving the New York Stock
Exchange, large financial institutions and other companies in lower
Manhattan. A gaping hole was torn in a seventh-floor exterior wall,
exposing and damaging huge communications switches dedicated to the
information needs of the banking company J. P. Morgan Chase.

In the last month, Verizon has labored to restore service or provide new
service for customers that have moved to other parts of the city or to
New Jersey. Virtually all of the fiber optic lines and copper strands
that had wound their way under the streets and sidewalks and into 140
West Street are being replaced. Some circuits have been rerouted to
other Verizon central offices in Lower Manhattan.

"The ideas we previously had about diversifying our networks have become
much more important," Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Verizon's vice chairman,
said in an interview last week as he led a small group of journalists on
a tour of 140 West Street. 
Until last month, the most obvious reasons for network disruptions were
natural disasters like hurricanes or floods. Now, though, Verizon and
other telephone companies must worry about the possibility of physical
attacks on their installations. Mr. Babbio warned last week that
significant harm could be done to the nation's communications system if
terrorists destroyed the 50 or 100 most important central offices. 
Verizon, which is the dominant telephone company on the Eastern seaboard
and operates in 30 states overall, is seeking to increase security at
its central offices, where it is required by federal law to lease
network access to its competitors. After Mr. Babbio issued his warning
last week, competitors said they would resist tighter security measures
if it made it more difficult for them to conduct operations within
Verizon's central offices. 
Beyond physically shielding their switching centers, phone companies can
protect their communications networks from direct attacks or peripheral
damage from nearby attacks by routing voice and data traffic to other
parts of their own networks or those of other companies.

But Mr. Babbio said that it would take Verizon five years to build
alternate pathways for all the telephone lines that wind their way into
and out of the New York Telephone building. And Verizon has no plans to
do so.

The reason may be a simple cost- benefit analysis. Despite its primacy
to Lower Manhattan's communications network, the central office at 140
West Street accounted for less than 1 percent of the traffic on
Verizon's nationwide network. 
"So much of the activity on networks takes place at dispersed
locations," said Roy A. Maxion, a system scientist at Carnegie Mellon
University. "But the fact remains that we're vulnerable even after
putting redundancy systems in place due to the physical nature of
connecting to our networks. The issue should be what level of risk
you're willing to live with."

Assuming they are willing to spend the money, business customers can
achieve redundancy, or surplus and backup capacity, by running cables to
several different central offices or, in some cases, by using several
different communications carriers. Several of Verizon's competitors, in
fact, have benefited from the disruptions by signing up new customers in
Lower Manhattan. 
"Identifying potential failures in networks is not easy," said Joe
Flach, vice president of the Eagle Rock Alliance, a consulting company
that provides advice on disaster planning. "The most important thing to
avoid is putting all of your eggs in one basket."

Only after Sept. 11 did executives from the financial services industry
in Lower Manhattan come to realize just how many of its eggs were in
that one 75-year-old building.

Mr. Babbio recalled having to explain the situation at a meeting in
Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Park Avenue offices of
the investment bank Bear, Stearns. Executives and government officials
present included Richard A. Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock
Exchange; Harvey L. Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange
Commission; Richard S. Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers
(news/quote); John A. Thain, a president of Goldman Sachs (news/quote);
and Peter R. Fisher, under secretary for domestic finance at the
Treasury Department.

The group was not happy when Mr. Babbio said how long it might take to
restore basic service. Mr. Grasso had been hoping to reopen the stock
exchange on Thursday or Friday. The following Monday now seemed
ambitious. 
"It was not an easy meeting," recalled Mr. Babbio, who spoke with the
group immediately after visiting the disaster site, where his clothes
had picked up the odor of smoke and ash. "I smelled awful after coming
back from downtown. No one wanted to sit next to me."

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