The government exercise codenamed ‘White Noise’ which will be run on Wednesday this week will involve a simulation of the entire UK PSTN network being shut down due to a theoretical cyber attack or natural disaster.
While I commend the government for raising the profile of the potential consequences of an attack or natural disaster affecting our country’s telephone network I think that, the government exercise is fundamentally flawed particularly if the article on The Register is to be believed which states that data and mobile communications will remain intact, and will result in the delegates taking part being misled to the extent that councils and private industry may be under prepared for such an event.
The reasons I think that the exercise will be flawed include:
1. Mobile, voice and data networks to some extent rely on the PSTN network and serving exchanges
As the UK networks become more converged the reliance upon the PSTN back bone for voice, data and mobile should not be under-estimated.
2. Geographic areas more likely to suffer ‘black outs’
Simulating a total outage of the UK’s PSTN network is unrealistic as it is far more probable that in the event of an attack or natural disaster, only certain areas of the country would be affected e.g. north of England cut off from the South.
3. Mobile Network Congestion
Even if the mobile network was fully available, the amount of congestion would be phenomenal, such as was experienced in the 7/7 bombings (although the PSTN network was still up and running), so the relative likelihood of getting through to another mobile would be reduced.
4. Phone calls abroad would be disrupted
As some phone calls from mobiles which are destined to a number abroad are sent through BT’s TeleHouse in London, these would not theoretically be able to get through.
5. Airwave
The dedicated Emergency Services communication system is also dependent to some extent upon the PSTN network between long distances so unless one policeman for example is trying to talk to another policeman within the same area, they are also vulnerable to a disruption in communication.
The only way to ensure resilient communication
In such a catastrophic example the only way to reliably communicate would be if ‘peer to peer’ phones were available for communication between people in a local area or a leased line was available between sites where a telephone exchange was not needed.
Therefore what they will find during this exercise, if run correctly, will be that a total outage on the PSTN network will have a ripple effect across other forms of communication and it will be interesting to see how those involved respond…
An Alternative Simulation
Business continuity consultancy, Needhams 1834, is simulating an exercise on December 3rd based on a disaster scenario which could happen at any time in the city of London. This event will include a disruption to telecoms services and the simulated disruptions planned for this event will be as close to what could happen as possible within a specific geographic area.
If you are planning to attend either of these exercises it would be great to hear your point of view, or even if you aren’t involved to hear which event you think would be the most beneficial to you.
Tags: exercise white noise, government exercise, pstn outage, white noise
