Qwest Vandal Sentenced

The third and final idiot who cut phone service to thousands in Saint Paul last year has been sentenced to ninety days in jail for his part in the two vandalisms. A number of very interesting details came out in court, apparently - including both the scale of Levi Glennie’s believed activities, and - unfortunately - his involvement with the Urban Exploration subculture in Minnesota.

Obviously, what Glennie and friends Ian McCombs and Christopher Walter did had nothing to do with urban exploration, and it’s nice to see that local media are refraining from pursuing that angle too far. Still, it’s a little bit painful to be associated in any way with someone so freaking dumb that he decided to get back at someone who “said something bad” about his buddy online by cutting their phone service, and that of a few thousand of their neighbors. Seriously, what the heck was he thinking?

What surprises me the most, though, is the fact that the series of “suspicious” power outages across the state - at least twenty-seven - and subsequent multi-jurisdictional investigation was kept under wraps for so long. Cutting power to hospitals is a pretty serious thing, and I’m really surprised that the whole thing seems to gotten literally no coverage in the local media. With - initially - no suspects and no clear motive, isn’t that the sort of “suspicious activity” that post-9/11 terrorism wet dreams are made of?

There’s a tantalizing hint that Levi Glennie and friends may yet face federal charges for what seems to have been a pretty long, pretty pointless crime spree. In fact, I’d almost be willing to bet on that, because it seems there are unanswered questions about the whole thing whose most likely answers all point beyond local jurisdiction. I also wonder if the three were really acting alone, or if there are “unindicted co-conspirators” out there whose necks are in nooses but don’t realize it yet. Eh; time will tell, I suppose…

As a security-related footnote, it’s worth noting that nearly all the items listed in the article - uniforms, badges, and so on - have some definite intrinsic value, but have - to the right people - considerably more value as “credibility props”, which are quite useful indeed when you’re engaging in social engineering. Considering that most things seem to have been utility-related, I think it’s safe to bet that authorities are following up on that angle pretty closely.

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