On Tue, 8 Mar 2022, Michael Thomas wrote:
Hi, I was reading an article on why Russia hasn't taken out Ukraine's mobile
networks and one of the premises was that they could use it to eavesdrop on
calls.
During World War I, the British Empire did this. It strategically cut
telegraph cables with Germany to force telegraph traffic to other cables
which the British Empire could monitor.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42367551
However, that is an obsolete strategy. It is occasionally used since WWII.
Other than in Hollywood movies, nation-states have other less obvious ways
to eavesdrop on civilian infrastructure. It might still be used for
so-called 'black fiber' (military circuits), which is different than
'dark fiber.'
Non-state actors are more likely to target civilian telecommunications
infrastructure, e.g. the Taliban used to blow up cell towers in
Afghanistan until the telco agreed to shutdown cell service during
certain hours.
Disclaimer: I don't know current russian military doctrine.
