INTERNET
Terrorism could paralyse the Internet
27-11-2002
by
A new study out of the US says the Internet is susceptible to severe disruptions in the event of a major disaster such as a terrorist attack.
Researchers at Ohio State University say that they conducted experiments to simulate the effects of a natural or man-made disaster that crippled major Internet nodes -- places that house the equipment where Internet traffic is collected and distributed.
In the event that a major Internet hub, such as Los Angeles, had its telecoms infrastructure taken off-line or destroyed, Internet access to almost all of the cities in California would likely shut down as well. Furthermore, service in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Denver, Dallas and Houston would be seriously diminished, the research said.
"I almost don't want this to be translated, but frankly one of these hubs would be an ideal target [for terrorism]," Morton O'Kelly, one of the report's authors and a professor of geography at Ohio State University told ElectricNews.Net. The six largest Internet hubs in the US are Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago and Washington, DC. According to the research, cities that serve as major hubs for the Internet would continue to have access in a disaster, but access would probably be much less functional.
With a tremendous amount of European Internet traffic running through Washington, DC, and New York, "I think it's safe to say that any disaster on the East Coast of the United States would have very serious implications for Europe, whether it's London, Brussels or Berlin," O'Kelly commented.
Using the events of September 11 as an example, the researchers said that when one major telecommunication hub, which was located at Ground Zero, was destroyed, Internet access was lost in three New York counties, and several major Internet services and e-business providers were left without service for nearly two days.
"The Internet functions much like our air traffic system," said Tony Grubesic, who co-authored the study as a doctoral student in geography at Ohio State. "If weather stops or delays traffic in a major airport hub, like Chicago's O'Hare, air passengers throughout the country may feel the effects - even if they are not travelling to Chicago. The same is true of the Internet hubs. They can affect Internet traffic through much of the country."
Grubesic, who is now an assistant professor of geography at the University of Cincinnati, conducted the study with professor O'Kelly and Alan Murray, an associate professor in geography at Ohio State. Their results will appear in the February 2003 issue of the journal Telematics and Informatics.
The researchers point out that the Internet has become more vulnerable in recent years mainly because it has become more commercialised. The original incarnation of the Net, a network called the ARPANET, was a decentralised network designed by the US Army to withstand a nuclear attack. Telecoms determined that a decentralised system was too expensive to maintain, however, and today's Net works in a more cost-effective "hub-and-spoke" manner.
O'Kelly did admit that his research is based on data from 2000, and in the wake of September 11 telecoms have begun to make provisions for disastrous circumstances. "They are no doubt aware of this scenario, and it's my understanding that they are now taking considerable steps to alter the Internet's architecture," he said.
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