It seems to be a recurring theme in the telecoms industry right now that attacks against infrastructure that provides connectivity, be it mobile or broadband, are a real issue for networks.

I seem to report on at least one such incident a week, where someone or a group of people have gone out of their way to disrupt infrastructure. I’ve even covered the topic in the latest edition of DCD Magazine.

The issue has been a big one for US providers in particular. In the last six months of last year, there were 6,000 intentional incidents of vandalism against communications infrastructure reported.

Endangering people

It can be a number of reasons, be it for their own financial gain, given the high value that copper commands, while some might do it for the sake of doing it, with little care for the people who are impacted. Others, as we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, attacked infrastructure due to misinformation being spread about technology online.

This issue is costing telecoms operators millions of dollars. Canadian telco Bell confirmed as much to DCD earlier this year, while Charter Communications says it’s a daily challenge for telcos. Simply put, the carriers and broadband providers have had enough.

It’s important to know the impact these issues have on everyday people as well. Critical communications need these networks as well as the mobile carriers.

Emergency services rely on these networks to communicate with the most vulnerable people and those in need of services. When copper is taken out of the ground for a quick payday, for example, it takes communities offline, and takes engineers away from deploying more modern technologies.

If people can’t get hold of the emergency services when they need them, it can have devastating consequences. This has been the case with the recent Triple Zero outage for Australia’s Optus, even though this was not caused by an act of vandalism. People need to be able to rely on these services.

For others, it can hurt businesses financially if they are unable to operate as they should be, which is even tougher, given the cost-of-living crisis that a lot of people face.

Tougher measures shouldn’t be difficult to implement

During SCTE Expo in Washington D.C. this week, there was a lot of chatter about the problems these companies are facing. It was refreshing to attend an event and see the topic being discussed.

Tom Monaghan, executive vice president for field operations, Charter Communications, and Elad Nafshi, executive vice president and chief network officer, Comcast, did a good job in highlighting these issues.

Monaghan referred to the incidents as “domestic terrorism,” something that the company has stated about such attacks on infrastructure in the past.

Their frustration, however, is understandable, as in their eyes, there’s no deterrent to stop people from committing such acts.

“There’s not a day that goes by at Charter that we don’t get one [cable cut],” Monaghan said. “And depending on where you are, like I said, this used to happen in the dark of night. I mean, it’s getting brash where they’re doing this during the day, and over a period of time, it affects millions of customers.”

As he states, people are doing this during the day because they feel like they can, and there’s no consequence attached. There have to be stronger laws and sentences passed down to those who are caught doing this.

Crime shouldn’t pay

Responsibility shouldn’t just fall on the lawmakers. There needs to be more of a community effort to tackle these issues. It’s not just telecoms it impacts, other sectors face similar problems, such as utilities operators, transportation, and energy companies.

Collaboration between these sectors is one way of tackling the issues, maybe through shared learning on how to combat thefts and needless vandalism.

However, a more proactive approach would be to take away the financial incentives from these chancers in the first place. Of course, you can’t alter the financial value of materials such as copper.

That said, copper recycling plants, as pointed out at one panel this week at SCTE Expo, need to be held to higher standards. Instead of paying out without asking questions, there should be more checks carried out on people looking to cash in.

It’s been a faceless crime for too long now. If you make it harder for these people to make money, it might go some way to decreasing copper theft at least.

AI and security

Encouragingly, it feels as if there are opportunities for telcos to use technology to their advantage to keep on top of the security of their network.

During a talk this week, Nafshi revealed that Comcast is using AI to monitor its fiber footprint, so that if a cable is cut, it’s able to quickly act on this, to minimize damage and impact to communities.

In this instance, he explained that the company’s AI technology can detect fiber cuts within 120 seconds with pinpoint precision and will prompt Comcast to automatically dispatch fiber restoration crews to the location. He says this has helped Comcast reduce outage times “by hours.”

US carrier Verizon is able to do something similar with AI.

AI is bound to have a number of great use cases for telecoms companies, but the ability to provide security and real-time data around incidents could be one of the biggest use cases for the sector.

Momentum is building

That said, it does feel like there’s a lot more being done to call out the attacks, in particular in the US.

Senior figures at ISPs are publicly calling out the issue, and there are groups tackling the problem head-on. One such initiative is the Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange, or STRIKE.

STRIKE, which is co-led by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, seeks to encourage data sharing and best practices among operators and industry organizations to combat the rise of copper theft and telecom infrastructure attacks.

The group already works with a number of telecoms executives.

It’s going to take a collaborative effort from the telecoms industry and other sectors to make a significant change, but this is a good start. That said, until tougher penalties are in place, it seems unlikely anything will change.