U.S. broadband industry launches initiative to combat rising attacks on critical networks

The U.S. broadband industry has launched the Strategic Threat Response and Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange (STRIKE), to confront vandalism and theft attacks on critical networks.

The Internet and Television Association (NTCA) warns that critical communications infrastructure is facing an alarming rise in vandalism and theft, leaving emergency services offline, hospitals struggling and communities vulnerable.

“From June to December 2024 alone, there were 5,770 intentional incidents of theft and vandalism — more than 800 per month — affecting over 1.5 million customers,” NTCA said. “These are not random acts. They are deliberate assaults that disrupt 911 systems, banking systems, law enforcement, and even U.S. military bases.”

STRIKE plans to spotlight broadband damage as a top-tier national security threat and enable intelligence sharing to identify and stop attacks faster. It will also work to align policy advocacy, technical standards and operational protocols into a unified strategy as well as establish consistent communication with government stakeholders.

The initiative is co-led by SCTE, a subsidiary of CableLabs, and NCTA. It brings together senior leaders from Comcast, Charter, Cox, GCI, Mediacom and other internet service providers. Comcast’s Elad Nafshi will serve as chair, and Charter’s Tom Monaghan will serve as vice chair.

The inaugural STRIKE strategy session will be held later this month at TechExpo25, SCTE’s annual event, in Washington, D.C. Leaders will use this platform to set the coalition’s strategic vision and coordinate immediate action.

The creation of STRIKE follows a letter sent by NCTA and other broadband providers to the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in July, calling for urgent federal action to treat these infrastructure attacks as domestic terrorism when warranted and deploy more resources to regions experiencing high levels of vandalism.

Read more at NCTA