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Monday, April 18, 2011

Rebels hacked, rewired Libya's cell network for their own use

Rebels hacked, rewired Libya's cell network for their own use

Posted on 4/15/2011

A compelling story from Wall Street Journal reporters Margaret Coker and Charles Levinson details how Libyan rebels - with help from individuals and governments supportive of their cause and without help from some equipment suppliers - rewired a portion of Libya's cellular-communications network to allow the rebels to communicate with each other.

The WSJ article states, "engineers hived off part of the Libyan cellphone network ... and rewired it to run independently of the regime's control." The article explains that the country's telcommunications infrastructure is built in a star topology, the center of which is Tripoli, allowing Colonel Moammar Gadhafi's government to control phone and Internet access. Libyan rebels had been without telecommunications access of any kind and were resorting to flag-waving during battles with government forces, the article says, before help from outside of Libya aided them.

The story details the efforts of Libyan-born, American-raised telecom executive Ousama Abushagur, who currently resides in Abu Dhabi. It reads a little like a work of international-espionage fiction, describing telecom-equipment provide Huawei's contract with the nation of Libya and refusal to supply equipment to the rebels as well as the roles of neighboring countries and their telecommunications companies in the hacking effort.

Read More...
http://www.cablinginstall.com/index/blogs/blog-display/blogs/cim-blogs/cabling-blog/post987_4997026249104215843.html?cmpid=EnlCIMApril182011

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