b'Webwaves WebwavesIan JamesFigure 1.Optus network tra\x1ec trends (from Cloud\x1bare Radar).ASEG Webmasterwebmaster@aseg.org.auOutageOn Wednesday 8 November 2023, millions of Optus customers were a\x1eected by a mobile and internet outage. Starting at 04:05 AEDT and lasting approximately nine hours, the outage was caused by an unknown technical problem, possibly a software or system update gone wrong. Unlike in 2022 when Optus su\x1eered a cyber attack, as discussed in Webwaves PV 221, the outage is not believed to have been the result of malicious activity.While 000 calls were not possible from landlines, mobile phones were able to place emergency calls by roaming using other carriers, where coverage existed. Problems arising from the outage were widespread, with Melbournes train services brie\x1by stopping, Optus dependent EFTPOS services failing andFigure 2.Cloud\x1bare Radar global map of outages in the last 12 months.various government services down.So far, Optus has responded by providingRadar website https://radar.cloud\x1bare. remember that something as simple customers with additional or unlimitedcom/AU which aggregates anonymousas a cut cable can potentially result in data until the end of 2023, or faster speedsinformation from their global network.being unable to dial 000, as shown by (unless you are on one of the 35 ineligibleData from the Optus network in Australiathe issues with Optus this week, or even plans listed on their website). I supposeis shown in Figure 1, with the orangebeing unable to pay for a co\x1eee.customers will be hoping that the networkshaded portion of the graph highlighting is outage-free for the next few months sothe outage and impact to services.that they can actually make use of theseReferencestoken gestures from Optus. Cloud\x1bare Radar also provides information on outages at a global level,https://www.optus.com.au/notices/How to \x1fnd out if there is a network issue with a map view as shown in Figure 2.outage-response (accessed 9 Globally, outages in the last year haveNovember 2023)Other than jumping on social media,had various causes, from weather andhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2023 various internet tools exist to checknatural disasters to cut cables, power cuts-11-08/optus-outage-mobile-if websites and networks are down.to cyber-attacks, government directedphones-internet-what-happened Downdetector https://downdetector.com/outages to military actions. Outages have/103077180 (accessed 9 November crowd sources information on outagesbeen widespread, with a large number of2023)based on user reports as well as socialcountries a\x1eected. https://downdetector.com/ (accessed media scraping. Cloud\x1bare, as providers9November 2023)of content delivery network and cyberWith so much of life relying on thehttps://radar.cloud\x1bare.com/AU security services, hosts the Cloud\x1bareinternet, it is sometimes di\x1ccult to(accessed 9 November 2023)43 PREVIEW DECEMBER 2023'