Sabotage refers to the intentional manipulation or damaging of objects or processes with the
aim of inflicting damage on the victim. Computer centres or communications links owned by
public authorities or companies make particularly attractive targets, since a dramatic effect
can be achieved here with a relatively low effort.
The complex infrastructure of a computer centre can be selectively manipulated by external
attackers, and particularly by insiders, by attacking specific, important components with the
goal of disrupting operations. Here, inadequately protected building management systems and
communication infrastructures, as well as central supply points are subject to a particular risk,
which may not be monitored organisationally or technically and provide outsiders with easy
and unobtrusive access.
Examples:
• In a large computer centre, manipulation of the UPS resulted in a temporary total
power failure. The perpetrator had repeatedly switched the UPS to the bypass mode
manually and then tampered with the main power supply to the building. There were
are total of four blackouts over a period of three years. In some cases, this even resulted
in damage to hardware. The service outages lasted between 40 and 130 minutes.
• Sanitary facilities were also available in a computer centre. By blocking the drains and
turning on all taps at the same time, water penetrated into central technical
components. The damage caused in this manner resulted in disruptions to the
operation of the production system.
• Sabotage poses a special risk to electronic archives since a large number of documents
requiring protection are stored in a small amount of space. In this way, it is possible to
cause extensive damage with just minor, selective tampering under some
circumstances.