[liberationtech] Censorship hardware - BLUECOAT IN SYIA

[L. Aaron Kaplan]

On Dec 2, 2012, at 2:00 AM, KheOps wrote:

> Hey, I'm thinking something that could be a total nonsense, but just in
> case I would like to share my thougths.
> 
> Le 01/12/2012 19:39, Rafal Rohozinski a écrit :
>> This pic has just been posted on twitter.  It was picked up by the
>> Secdev Syria Operation Group. It is allegeldy a picture of internet
>> censorship hardware taken inside a telecom hub (exchange) in
>> Damascus, http://twitter.com/AmaraaBaghdad/status/274919986399703040/photo/1
> 

By the way: notice the cable - it's super easy to trip over that one :)
Maybe that's what happened? The Blue-coats didn't work anymore and it took them 2 days to figure out what happened? LOL

> This picture just popped up on Twitter. A long time ago there was a
> picture taken from the official Tarassul Facebook pages that obviously
> show the same devices in the same office -
> https://resources.telecomix.ceops.eu/material/bluecoat-Syria/tarassul-datacenter.jpg
> 
> What if that second picture - the one that popped up today - had been
> taken just recently by some opponent to the regime who managed to gain
> access to the Tarassul technical office; that intrusion could have lead
> the regime to do a kind of massive shutdown?
> 
> As I said, this might make no sense at all. But in a way, such a total
> disruption, including the governmental/stock exchange/whatever websites
> could be something the regime itself did not really want.
> 

On a more serious note: I had the exact same thought.

Updated my blog post about this subject just now: http://www.cert.at/services/blog/20121129184048-616.html

Does anyone have any info on the paths that the fiber cables are taking from Tartus till Damascus?
If they are not to cross the border and go to Lebanon, then they must pass by Homs. Usually fiber lines are next to train tracks or highways.

Also the pictures from Tarassul which you reference above are to my knowledge in Alleppo. 
Can anyone here say for sure that rebels could easily enter that building since it is in their controlled territory?

But let's analyze this: what happens when some rebels enter the building where the blue-coats are ?
What would they gain from cutting off the connections? 

Aaron.

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