FBI Investigating Alameda County Cable-Cutting Among Series of Similar San Francisco-Area Incidents

The FBI is investigating the Tuesday cutting of a group of three fiber cables in Alameda County, California, as part of a series of 11 fiber cable-cutting incidents across the San Francisco Bay Area over the past year, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. Level 3 Communications and Zayo Group have both said their cables were affected in the Alameda County incident and that they restored service by Wednesday. The perpetrator of the Alameda County incident is believed to have accessed the cables through a manhole, the FBI spokesman said. Outages caused by the Alameda County incident and the other 10 cable-cutting incidents have been concentrated in the Bay Area but have stretched to as far away as Sacramento, the FBI spokesman said. The FBI has noticed similarities among the 11 cable-cutting incidents, the spokesman said. The FBI sought the public’s help last month in identifying the perpetrators in the 10 earlier cable-cutting incidents, which occurred between July 6, 2014, and June 9. Five of the 10 incidents occurred in Fremont, while two others occurred in Walnut Creek. The FBI in June said the perpetrators “may appear to be normal telecommunications maintenance workers or possess tools consistent with that job role.”