03/05/2026
A government internet outage turned out to have a surprisingly tiny culprit. 🐿️
In Medina County, Ohio, several government offices suddenly lost phone and internet service on February 20, including the county prosecutor’s office. At first, officials believed construction crews had accidentally cut underground fiber lines.
But the real cause turned out to be far more unexpected. County Administrator Matt Springer later revealed that a squirrel had built a nest inside the fiber infrastructure and chewed through multiple cables, knocking out the network. During a commissioners meeting he even joked, “It’s hard to make this stuff up.”
Officials are now working with internet providers to strengthen the system and prevent similar incidents. Believe it or not, squirrels have been blamed for many power and infrastructure outages across the United States over the years.
If something this small can shut down a government network… how secure do you think our systems really are?
