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John Scott-Railton Profile picture
@jsrailton
Oct 20, 2022 • 7 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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"We expect it will be fishing vessels that damaged the cable but it is very rare that we have two problems at the same time."

And just like that, Shetland goes offline.

Pay attention to subsea cables. Putin does.
bbc.com/news/uk-scotla… Communications to Shetland have been completely shut down af
2/ Shetland is connected via SHEFA-2 (SHEtland-FAroes).

If the Mainland-Shetland cable is cut (e.g happened in 2014 near Orkney), backup routing *is* available:

SHEFA-2 to Faroe Islands, then to UK via FARICE-1 backhaul (Faroe & Iceland)

But double breaks = no backup route.
3/ Fishing damage to subsea cables is a big thing.

Bottom trawlers are a common offender.

They can snag surface laid cable segments + gear & make a mess.

They can also muck up marine habitats, as this @MontereyAq video illustrates.
4/ Subsea cables are typically buried.

Sometimes segments wind up exposed for a bit.

Detailed warnings are issued because of the high risk of snagging by trawlers.

E.g. inspection & reburial of a spliced & repaired segment of SHEFA-2 was recently postponed b/c of bad weather.
5/ #Shetland shows: even with redundancy, the right cuts = total outage.

The capability to deliver such a disruptive blow to our information systems is *exactly* why Russia keeps mapping cables & doing exercises.

Story: theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/j… He said that meant Moscow could “put at risk and potential
6/ @mercoglianos just reminded me of some cable cutting history.

Wikipedia has the story of how the 🇬🇧British cut key German telegraph cables at the outset of #WWI.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_Alert_… When Britain entered World War I, one of its first acts was
7/ UPDATE: a UK flagged fishing vessel reportedly responsible for #Shetland cable damage.

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More from @jsrailton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture
May 9
I can confidently diagnose @betterhelp as sociopaths.

Promised therapy customers privacy...then gave their mental health info to advertisers.

Victims get less than ten bucks each.
wcnc.com/article/news/n…
Image
A billion+ dollars in revenue in 2023 alone.

Yet @betterhelp paid less than $8 million in fines for victimizing their *entire customer base* for 4+ years.

In a just society with comprehensive privacy legislation, they'd face existential civil & criminal consequences. Image
A single therapist that did this would lose their livelihood and probably wind up with local news camped in front of their office.

A company does it to 800,000 people and you can't even hear the wrist slap from the next room.
Read 7 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Apr 22
BREAKING: US @StateDept imposes visa restrictions on 13 mercenary spyware proliferators / immediate family.

First known application of policy rolled out in Feb.
state.gov/promoting-acco…
Image
2/ Visa restrictions are a promising tool in the fight against mercenary spyware.

Spyware developers & investors want big returns.

But they also want to spend some of that money on travel to the US & their kids' Ivy League tuition.

3/ As the visa announcement ricochets around mercenary spyware land...

A *lot* of shady players are surely having a little panic.

...wondering if their name is or will be on a list.
state.gov/promoting-acco…
Read 4 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Apr 19
SEEN THESE ADS?

Producer is a declared foreign agent, paid ~$6.8m to make Kremlin propaganda on #Ukraine, etc.

He's claimed in filings that those videos wouldn't target the US audiences.

By @taylorgiorno_ & @annalecta opensecrets.org/news/2022/08/r…
Image
Please REPLY if you are seeing "Zelenskyy Unmasked" ads in the US.

In FARA registrations, Ben Swann claims Russian millions are *not* for content targeting the the US.

So who is funding this massive advertising spend to attack #Ukraine?

FARA Example: efile.fara.gov/docs/7151-Supp…
Image
3/ Anecdotally I keep hearing that viewers of my tweets about Russian hacking & election interference are being shown the ads.👇
Read 5 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Apr 18
Report: Russia seeking to interfere in US elections & undermine support for #Ukraine.

Tactics include propaganda-laundering.👇 1/

By @selectedwisdom
blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/…
Image
2/ Rigged courts. Election Fraud... Sound familiar?

It's the work of another #Russian propaganda operator highlighted by @Microsoft that amplifies socially divisive narratives.
Image
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@Microsoft 3/ The now-familiar hack-and-leak targeting of US political figures = dynamic to watch as 2024 elections approach.

I think media still struggles to responsibly cover "leak"-branded political hacks.

No doubt Russia has made the same observation.

Ft. @MsftSecIntel. Image
Read 4 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Apr 14
Good morning to everyone except the "OSINT" accounts that spent last night spreading fake, alarmist & unconfirmed content.
2/ OSINT: Open Source INtelligence.

Owes its good reputation to groups like @Bellingcat that carefully VERIFY material before using it in analysis.

But today, if you find "OSINT" in the handle, there's a good chance that you will find neither verification nor analysis.
3/ How to run an "OSINT"-branded grift:

1️⃣Copy unverified spicy videos from Telegram channels, other accounts etc.

2️⃣ Strip sourcing because, hey, don't want to help competitor "OSINT" accounts get clout.

3️⃣Add hyperbolic & alarming caption.

4️⃣ Amplify.
Read 4 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Apr 13
Be wary of OSINT-branded accounts recycling faked & old footage of airstrikes, explosions, interceptions etc.

It happens every time, but in New Twitter they have a direct financial incentive to push out inflammatory nonsense.

There's more 1/
2/ The annoying practice of some OSINT-branded accounts of repeating headlines ginned up & borrowed from somewhere without citation as if it's their own...

Is reckless & dangerous during fast moving conflict where there is huge potential for *consequential* misunderstandings.
3/ Exercise extreme caution in what you amplify & believe.

Twitter is awash with a flood tide of falsehoods tonight.

Some is the work of people trying to farm revenue.

And some is disinformation seeking to seed specific false perceptions.
Read 7 tweets

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