Losing the 'net

[kenneal - lagger]

Shetland has an oil and gas terminal and is probably lightly defended so could well be a target for Russia if they had any troops left, that is.

[PS_RalphW]

I think it could be a low key escalation by Putin, after blowing his own pipelines. This is probably the least impactful undersea cable in NATO, how better to say “l meant what I implied by blowing Nordstream”?

[Vortex2]

Putin or not - I expect that we will lose the net at some point due to war, natural disaster, energy supply failure, hacking etc.

I think that we all need to prepare ourselves PSYCHOLOGICALLY for losing all our comms for extended periods - or even for ever.

(I like movies so I have scrounged 100s of unwanted films on DVD to maintain my addiction even when the streaming services are no longer reachable)

[adam2]

Latest reports state that the two damaged internet cables were probably damaged by fishing vessels.
I do not trust russia in general and putin in particular, but suspect that this was an accident.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... d-63337473

[PS_RalphW]

Connection restored. Fishing trawlers blamed.

[kenneal - lagger]

Trawlers do so much damage to the bottom that I'm surprised that the cables weren't buried at least a metre. If they have repaired them that quickly they must have been laying on the seabed.

[clv101]

Well, looks like HSBC has dropped off the grid tonight. Seems like all customers are totally locked out, including ATMs!

[adam2]

MIGHT be a russian hacking attack, but banks do not have a great record of reliable IT systems.

[clv101]

Back online in the early hours.

[adam2]

Royal Navy send a second warship to the Gulf, reportedly to help protect critical undersea cables.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67572536

Looks as though HMG are taking this threat seriously.

[Default0ptions]

Sorry - hijacking the thread a bit.

The biggest problem with banking and computers and apps etc is that all the functionality we expect to work every time we tap to pay or login to our online banking - is that all of these top layer services are sitting on the top of some pretty ancient legacy systems - and the last few people who can actually understand and fix those legacy systems are now retiring.

“Legacy issue: The problem is that the old mainframe computers - the workhorses of the global banking industry - have been chugging away keeping tabs on all our transactions for decades now.”

Well worth a read to see the huge problems we are facing with this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35880429

This is not really a problem unique to online banking - and is something that will get increasingly more problematic.

The really HUGE issue is that we are now so dependent on the internet and underlying legacy systems that we really can’t function without it all working anymore.

For example: Internet down? Power cut?

Shops can’t sell you food.

“What are these coins and paper you are offering? No food for you!”

Potential damage to undersea interconnections just underlines the ludicrous lack of any way these complex systems can degrade gracefully to practical real world solutions.

[Ralphw2]

Agreed.

The developed world is incredibly dependent on a single point of failure. The internet was designed to be a robust communication network in the event of war, but it became so successful so quickly that all other channels of communication have withered or been dismantled completely, whilst almost all human activity has become mediated by computer chip controlled machines that are increasingly dependent on the internet to operate. It is frightening to think back and see how our lives have changed even in the last 50 years, yet almost all of us accept this changed state of existence and increasingly don't even notice it.

I fear its collapse, which is inevitable in the coming decades, will trigger mass, near depopulation as hunger overwhelms entire countries faster than older means of trade and machinery operation can be re introduced.

[northernmonkey]

I took up bookbinding a year or so back during all the Covid19 lunacy. Since then, I have been downloading and printing up and binding as many books of as much variety as I think will be of use to me and mine in the coming years. No internet required. Indeed, no power input of any kind required. Just somewhere dry.

[Default0ptions]

I took up bookbinding a year or so back during all the Covid19 lunacy. Since then, I have been downloading and printing up and binding as many books of as much variety as I think will be of use to me and mine in the coming years. No internet required. Indeed, no power input of any kind required. Just somewhere dry.

Bookbinding! Oh I like that idea.

I’ve spent the last forty years or so busking for a living and I think there’ll always be a place for good musicians.

I interspersed this with a fairly lucrative web design business which obviously has no future without an internet - but it was good fun while it lasted.

[PS_RalphW]

I also worked in IT, and increasingly on the internet, for 35 years. Post covid I became handyman for the parish council before relocating. These days I volunteer at a cafe, volunteer driver to hospitals and help out at a bike repair clinic. Much more satisfying but unpaid.