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Vandals cut fiber-optic lines, causing outage for Spectrum Internet subscribers


The soaring price of copper makes networks tempting targets for thieves.

Spectrum officials told the Los Angeles Times that personnel had to splice thousands of fiber lines to restore service to affected subscribers. Over the past two decades, copper theft has emerged as a major problem in industries spanning plumbing, telephone and Internet connectivity, and others relying on the material, which is a good conductor of electricity and once sold at low prices. Dan Goodin is Senior Security Editor at Ars Technica, where he oversees coverage of malware, computer espionage, botnets, hardware hacking, encryption, and passwords.

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