The Internet & Television Association in the US posted a worrying report – there were 18,327 incidents of theft and vandalism that affect the network of wires that bring Internet connectivity to customers’ homes. To put that in perspective, this has affected nearly 12 million people. The rate works out to 1,527 incidents per month or 50 incidents on average per day. And it’s getting worse – there has been a 59% increase since 2024. You can read the report here (PDF).
Now, the country’s Top 3 carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon – have joined the STRIKE initiative. This dramatic acronym stands for “Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange” and aims to help service providers coordinate and plan better protection to their networks.
Cut copper cables
Copper wires often get stolen to resell for the value of the metal. But optic cables are in danger too – those often get cut in acts of vandalism. In fact, industry leaders want to label these as acts of terrorism instead, since these can affect hospitals, schools and people’s access to emergency services.
The copper-based infrastructure was already suffering since it was laid down years ago and cables and equipment have not seen the best maintenance. The accelerated rate of attacks is pushing service providers towards replacing such old installations with fiber cables, since those don’t have resale value – and since fiber offers much higher Internet speeds, of course.
