A | HELSINKI -- Finnish police said Wednesday they have launched a criminal investigation into possible sabotage of an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was shut down over the weekend following a leak.Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, says it has started gathering evidence at the location of the leak, which was detected in Finland's economic zone Sunday on the Balticconector pipeline connecting the two NATO allies. A telecommunications cable also was damaged.The purpose of the probe is to establish whether the Balticconector pipeline was damaged intentionally or by accident and by whom. Finnish authorities have already ruled out an operational mishap, saying the damage resulted from “external activity.”Noting that the analysis was still in an early stage, NBI said “traces have been detected in the seabed” near the leak but didn’t give details.Outside analysts have speculated on everything from a ship’s anchor hitting the pipeline to an explosion as possible causes. Investigators told reporters on Wednesday that an explosion appeared unlikely.“The damage appears to have been caused by mechanical force, not an explosion,” NBI chief inspector Risto Lohi was quoted as saying by Finnish public broadcaster YLE. “At the moment we are determining what happened and (who) may have been involved. Considering the situation, we will not speculate, but work to find facts, analyze them and then draw conclusions about what caused the damage.”The 77-kilometer-long (48-mile-long) Balticconnector pipeline runs across the Gulf of Finland from the Finnish city of Inkoo to the Estonian port of Paldiski. It is bi-directional, transferring natural gas between Finland and Estonia depending on demand and supply. The 300 million euro ($318 million) pipeline, largely financed by the European Union, started commercial operations at the beginning of 2020. It was shut down on Sunday after operators noticed a drop in pressure in the pipeline.The incident comes just over a year after the Nord Stream gas pipelines running between Germany and Russia in the Baltic Sea were damaged by explosions believed to be sabotage. The case remains unsolved.In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had discussed the latest incident with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.“If it is proven to be a deliberate attack on NATO critical infrastructure, then this will be of course serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined response from NATO,” Stoltenberg said.On Tuesday, Finnish officials did not comment on whether they suspected Russian involvement.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the incident “alarming news.”“We know that there have been dangerous precedents of terror attacks against critical infrastructure in the Baltics, I mean the attacks against Nord Stream pipelines,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “We are looking forward to more detailed information.”Finnish gas transmission system operator Gasgrid Finland estimated that the repair work would take at least five months. The company said a liquified natural gas terminal in Inkoo has the capacity to deliver the gas Finland needs.Europe saw natural gas prices hit record highs last year after Russia’s cutoff of most gas supplies during the war in Ukraine. Many European countries have turned to other alternatives including LNG since then to meet their energy needs. Europe currently has filled 97% of its gas storage capacity for the winter, but security of supply depends on deliveries of pipeline gas and LNG.。
来源：京畿道议员李基仁的 Facebook火灾发生后，数据中心电源被切断，锂离子不间断电源（UPS）开启了约30分钟。但随后不间断电源室也开始起火。

B | 为控制火势，消防部门放弃使用高压气体灭火，转而准备使用水枪。

C | 为避免短路，消防部门要求数据中心运营商SK C&C切断所有电源。八小时后，火灾最于15日晚上11：46左右被扑灭，事故虽未造成人员伤亡，但有消息显示，所有的电池都在这场大火中被烧毁。韩国警方表示：我们将考虑电池和机架本身有问题或周围电线问题等引发火灾的可能性，以掌握火灾的确切经过。

D | 这场火灾的影响远不止于此。由于该数据中心由SK与IBM共建，主要管理SK电信，韩国国民社交软件Kakao、门户网站Naver等核心平台运营商的数据。

E | 因此火灾发生后，韩国互联网服务出现大面积瘫痪。互联网服务瘫痪尽管数据中心于次日上午9时恢复了90%的服务器电力供应，但在断电的大半天内，韩国互联网仍然蒙受了巨量损失。Kakao首当其冲，这款软件是韩国应用最广泛的移动通讯工具，涵盖即时通讯、移动支付、在线交易、在线地图和打车，甚至公民纳税时使用的数字证书，以及新冠疫情期间的数字疫苗证书等功能。据技术评论家金善贤（音）说，这款应用在新冠疫情期间扮演了“准政府”的角色。该软件在韩国拥有4300-4700万的活跃用户（韩国全国人口约为5100万），影响力基本等同于我国的微信和支付宝的结合体。而这次起火的数据中心里，不仅有着Kakao的3.2万个服务器，而且还是Kakao的主数据中心。15日下午3点30分左右开始，Kakao Talk 发送或接收消息时，消息旁边开始出现“正在加载”指示，最终消息发送失败。PC端的Kakao Talk则直接无法登陆。此外，打车、电子商务等服务也因支付功能瘫痪而受到影响。
在事发10小时后的凌晨1点31分，Kakao才恢复了部分功能，直到16日下午，消息收发才逐渐恢复正常，但仍有相当一部分的服务器在修复中，这次事故也成为Kakao Talk上线12年来故障时间最久的一次。

F | 据分析师预计，受火灾影响，Kakao第4季度的收入将遭受220亿韩元的损失。

G | Kakao的股价周一下跌了9%以上，市值蒸发2万亿韩元（约101亿元人民币）。

H | 子公司 KakaoPay 和 KakaoBank的股价也在早盘交易中暴跌了8%以上。
除Kakao外，“韩国版百度”Naver部分服务器和功能也受到影响，但由于Naver在异地有备份，故障在几小时内就被排除。周三上午，Kakao联合首席执行官南宫勋（音）在发布会上向 Kakao 的用户道歉，并宣布引咎辞职。追责鉴于本次火灾影响范围之广，损失之大，一场在SK C&C、Kakao和韩国官方之间的问责就此展开。

I | 据两家公司的管理人员称，SK C&C声称，大火只切断了Kakao服务器所在的数据室的部分电力，而Kakao坚称，SK C&C大楼的大部分服务器从火灾开始时就停止了。SK C&C有关人士表示，当消防部门决定使用水枪灭火时，已经向现场的Kakao公司人员通报了这一决定，但Kakao方面却对此表示当时只是接到了“单方面通知”：我在断电之前接到了SK C&C的电话，但这是通知而不是征求意见。

J | Kakao周一通过向投资者发布的公告表示，一旦Kakao和主要子公司的服务完全恢复正常，将与SK C&C就赔偿损失问题进行协商。一些业内人士猜测，在完成对用户的赔偿后，Kakao或将对SK C&C提起诉讼。与此同时，韩国官员也就此次事件对Kakao发出批评。执政党议员朱浩英在与政府举行的政策协商会上表示：10名市民中有9名是Kakao的客户，但Kakao的数据管理如此糟糕，没有做好应对灾难的准备，这让我感到震惊。韩国科学信息通信部长官李钟镐表示：政府严肃对待这一事件，因为这是Kakao等国内主要通信系统的安全问题，不仅给国民的日常生活带来不便，而且还会使经济和社会活动陷入瘫痪。

K | 显然，此次火灾影响扩大的核心在于消防部门决定用水灭火，SK C&C切断所有电源这一行为。