8th Nov 2023
Early this morning in Australia, the second largest communications carrier went offline due to a massive data breach, causing havoc here in Australia.
I swear, Australia is the test pilot for the communications industry world-wide. This is the second time this has happened.
Those customers effected cannot use their phones to receive calls, messages, & internet - not even the emergency call services work. Businesses, banking, telehealth, transportation are a few things that no longer function correctly or to capacity. if people use the carrier called 'OPTUS' for any of their communications then they're screwed moreso if they use both their phone and their computer with the same provider - they are basically cut off until the problem can be fixed.
And its been hours, and they cannot find the issue to get people back online.
This is what happens when the technology in your hand and your house gets cut off.

And then there is the issue of all the millions of people's data being hacked.

I know there has been a few RV sessions where it has been said that the power will go down, or the internet will go down.
This is what it looks like.
Selective telecommunications companies and carriers shutting down and taking their millions of customers offline.
Its very close to a full power outage.

So, a tip. Because Id say this will roll out world wide over time.
Don't bundle your carriers. Use separate carriers for home computer networks, and a separate one for your phone - and make sure the carriers don't piggyback off one carrier to provide services.
Keep cash available - as banking cannot be accessed on line without a working device.

Lets see what the fallout from this is and how long before it comes to a communications provider that you use elsewhere in the world.

This all seems very deliberate.
Just a heads up.

"This all seems very deliberate."

yeaaahhhhhhhh

But by who? That's possibly scarier! Is it merely testing for something bigger in a different country?? (or region/ Or continent??)

This is a serious and interesting question. My wife and I are starting to make pickup locations for each part of our city (in case its needed). North part be here, south part of city meet there and so on. I may be able to find her when I pass by in a car. But when the entire east of USA and Canada lost all power about 25 years ago for 3 days (in the summer) not the winter when it would be way worse it was a real headache power wise. Cell phones down (maybe internet) will be another big problem too. If everything goes down some how. Food cant be cooked or even bought, Heat goes off, gas for the car cant be bought, Cell and internet down cant even find anyone or find out what's happening. Need a emergency bug out bag in the house.

This is partly why I advocate for 2nd amendment and regulations of similar form. Countries that have such legislation, you don't really see that happen because for many: if they can no longer spread information, then they'll spread artillery

It's nice to have as much independence as possible. My PC, smart phone and Nokia are serviced by 3 separate providers. It's all electrickery here (and most gas appliances won't work without it anyway) but I have a Trangia camping stove which runs on alcohol and a gasifier which cooks over scrap wood. Then there are the 2 hurricane lanterns and some candles... I spent 3 years living in a tent so this aspect of the apocalypse doesn't bother me as much as it might.

Well if the threat is real then probably from the oppressive "as usual" to bring forth their agenda.. It is how many have said throughout the web, "to reset a financial system we need to bring everything to a halt", something like overnight the collapse so it can introduce one where every data of each individual is controlled, and those who want to be part of the system have to comply with the mark, so they can have access to groceries and main supplies.
Hope it is just ".. a fade in the dust..." but for whatever reason preparing for a somewhat "independent" way of living can be rewarding on many levels.

I was awake in the early hours of the morning when my phone told me my account had been 'suspended'.
I thought it was strange but then I thought there was something more going on.
Luckily I have separate carriers for different appliances - if this had not been the case I would be in a dilemma.
Unfortunately that was not the case for many.

Optus is a Singaporean based company - it is no longer Australian owned.
The response from the CEO of Optus in Australia was dismal.
For more than 8 hours the usual classic response of 'our engineers are doing everything they can to find the cause of the problem' was repeated throughout the day. They still have not found the cause - they are calling it a 'deep root' or 'deep core' network outage problem in the system - whatever that means - these are new descriptives that camouflage the issue but try and calm the severity of the problem while keeping everyone in the dark. Technical blurb for the uniformed.
Services came back online in a gradual trickle 12 hours after it went down.

So there's going to be an enquiry. Thats nice. A bit too late for those who could not ring an ambulance - not even from a landline phone... many businesses were effect, the government was effected - the list goes on.
The media are being very quiet about the whole thing. They're on repeat.

One thing it did do was make people very much more aware of the consequences of relying on promises from the Telco industry, and how susceptible the entire country is to being disconnected on a so many levels, and our continual reliance to hand a corporation the glue that keeps the country connected.
I'd say a huge number f people now have more than one service provider as new Sim cards and new customers went over to join the Number 1 Telco, Telstra - and in doing so nearly brought that company to its knees as well.

It took 12 hours.

ETA - another possible positive outcome - it brought the topic of 'cash' back to the forefront. Australia has been removing access to their ATM cash machines for the past year. I have written about this previously as soon I saw them go from my small village town. Yesterday, many people were dealing in cash... if they could find an ATM machine that is.

So If the Great event that is predicted to happen soon by Mr High and Dick Algire and his crew then its likely to trigger a lot of disruption or spin offs of unknown effects. Del your post and the fact that you are talking about it might indicate that you are sensing an imminent crisis.

I have a small camp stove and about 6 gas cylinders. Of course flash lights - no gas in the tank so I better fix that. I wanted to get a plan going with my wife re where to meet locations but she refuses to be pessimistic. Cans of food in the cupboard can last a week or so and that's it - I hope that's enough. But a bit of a reserve would be a good idea for everyone ! I think Daz predicted the Pandemic and also the fires in Hawaii so he has a good track record. I have for years heard there is a plan to take down the internet if and when the "good" military finally make a move. I know you were specifically talking about phone service. Most pay phones in Canada are gone. The cell phone is very vulnerable to being cut or knocked out. I think it may be possible that someone is practicing taking out 1 or 2 services to see how it all goes. In other words it might be possible "someone" is practicing on how to do it all and see how long it takes for the country to get it up and working again -- maybe ?? And it could be all sides trying it - Russia (and their hackers) vs China - and or USA and all their hacking teams. It is said the first shot that will be fired in a war will be internet attacks- Cell phones probably fit into that slot as well.

I would say "hey, accidents will happen" but we've had the example of people-herding from the pandemic and the Global Bumwad Stockpiler Phenomenon... Who in their right mind would denude the supermarkets of all tissue in the event of Armageddon, leaving the dried & preserved goods, wine, fresh veg, etc. on the shelves unless conditioned to do so? I thought at the time that it looked like an experiment in population control and then out came the vaccine and the whole circus.

For years we've been exhorted to do ever more with our phones, from banking & payments to parking the car and registering as vaccinated. Come to think of it, this Australian incident might be a good thing, waking people up to their vulnerability. Placing so much reliance on something entirely outwith one's control is like teabagging a snoring rottweiler and simply hoping for the best.

@David - quote post: So If the Great event that is predicted to happen soon by Mr High and Dick Algire and his crew then its likely to trigger a lot of disruption or spin offs of unknown effects. Del your post and the fact that you are talking about it might indicate that you are sensing an imminent crisis.

Hi David, I think I came into this mortal coil prepared. I'm of a ripe age (basically I'm old LOL) and I remember watching the news on the Vietnam War, the veterans when they got home, the Gorbachev/Reagan/Thatcher imminent nuclear war era, the many financial crisis's, the genocides, the Dictators who have come and gone, the birth of the internet - collectively, all this is eerily similar to where we are now, but it is no longer on peripheral, its in our faces. Even throughout all those years it was evident that something was amiss. As a child I was a little 'dark' in the way I saw the world. I knew and I watched silently.
The small random events place upon the timeline over the years, are now coalescing.
The Event has been going on for more than 50 years. And they are late in getting this aspect of the event on its feet.

Although its been rough, Australians have run the gamut over the past 5 years. We were in horrendous drought before the entire continent was on fire and people rallied, whole towns were wiped out. Then came the floods, and entire communities were washed away, and they began to rebuild. There were massive plague amounts of mice after the floods. Then came covid, and people lost their jobs and their livelihood. And when it was over, people rolled up their sleeves and got back to work. Now the entire continent experienced this massive communications blackout and felt the consequences.
Its only the ignorant now who don't have an emergency plans in place. But even then, I'm sure there is more to come we need to prepare for.
They can try and grind this country to meal but they don't seem to recognize we are becoming more resilient - its the people who are the mortar and pestle.

@Alexander Jacob - quote post: For years we've been exhorted to do ever more with our phones, from banking & payments to parking the car and registering as vaccinated. Come to think of it, this Australian incident might be a good thing, waking people up to their vulnerability. Placing so much reliance on something entirely outwith one's control is like teabagging a snoring rottweiler and simply hoping for the best.

One thing I remember quite clearly when cell phones had just come onto the market was that Australia was leading the charge - we were the population that was buying and using them. It was a perfect demographic for such an experiment. An isolated island of huge expanse with an about 18-20million population - economically secure with huge natural resources and opportunities - educated, home owning, Mobile phones were not just good for covering the Australian expanse for business - but it was affordable and ground breaking. If companies wanted to see what this tech could do, and what people would do with this tech, it was certainly embraced here.
Just a few things though that Aussies had concerns with - those pesky radiation levels from the phones heating your ear and head up with.
I remember the Marketing - I was in advertising for a short while - the debates and the lies that were told back then. And the amounts of money that were being splashed around to counteract any concerns. This was 8 years before the internet landed - and the phone was just that - only a phone.

But as progress goes, we have put all our eggs in one basket - that phone is a chain around our necks, and there's no way that governments, financial providers, conglomerates couldn't see the risk in doing that, and that there might be a problem down the track if the whole thing started to derail.
I sometime think they're a lot more like Gomez Addams - they participate for the train wreck they've set up 😁

But on the bright side - data companies didn't know the exact location of 10 million people yesterday - they don't know what they spent their cash on - they couldn't listen in on their conversations and they don't have any record of what they were up too 😁

There is always 2 paths from the same road.. there is always a good aspect in every corner. Sometimes is the call for coming back to the roots but this time with more knowledge, grabbing what was great back then and create a new future.

@Del

"But as progress goes, we have put all our eggs in one basket"

Yeah, that looks way to ominous... same here, where there are only two major apps for basically ALL purchases.. and they're connected to SOOOO many things! (including, of course, your identity).

This country already has a social credit scheme, and locals have had their faces plastered over large public electronic billboards for not paying debts, bad behaviour on public transport, and can't get tickets for the fast trains, or planes, etc.

There was also an incident a year or two ago where a local rural bank went bust. People were trying to come in from other parts of the country to try to pull their cash out of the bank, but had their Covid codes turned Red so they couldn't get to the bank (or even into the city!!) Again, those codes were directly linked (used the same apps) as above - purchases, payments, etc. However, given the aged and poor population, they haven't been able to get rid of cash.

Lastly, perhaps what happened the other day was someone trying to see just how far people will react! It was only 12 hours or so... not the two days that will apparently destroy civilisation.

(I just had a silly thought... maybe this was another Hiroshima/Nagasaki - "look what we can do to you... so don't fuck with us!")

I wonder how this will affect crypto currency. Bring back proper currency - gold, wenches, skulls of enemies, etc.

This remindes me of Nigeria where people protested and stop the market due to the government changing of the currency to digital, the government wait till people get starved, about a week or two, then everybody was forced to comply in order to survive.