With some of these cables spanning from one continent to another, protecting them is challenging, and this is something that could be easily taken advantage of. It is reasonable to expect that if one world superpower is the victim of this type of attack, they could seek to cut the undersea cables their enemies use to stay online, leading to a broad internet outage.
Most of the world’s internet traffic travels across an expansive network of high-speed fiber optic cables situated along the ocean floor, and attacking it could disrupt government and military communications as well as private ones, causing problems for everything from energy suppliers to financial markets.
This isn’t just hypothetical; CNN recently reported that American officials have been sounding the alarm over “increased Russian military activity around key underseas cables.”
According to the news outlet, two American officials told them that Russia has been working hard on a unit that would disable this vital part of global communication infrastructure.
“Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines and naval drones,” one official said, referring to the Russian acronym for the country’s “General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research” unit.
The threat is so concerning that the U.S. routinely tracks Russian ships that patrol near critical undersea cables and infrastructure. The seas of Northern Europe seem to be a particular focus for Russia, with a joint investigation by public broadcasters from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark reporting that Russia was operating a fleet of suspected spy ships there with a view to sabotaging undersea cables as well as wind farms.
However, the Russians claim that they are not planning such an attack and that the true culprits are the U.S. and the U.K.
According to the Telegram channel Crimean Wind, Putin aide Nikolai Patrushev said that Western accusations of Russian sabotage “would be funny, but such statements often sound like a cover for their own intentions.”
China also appears to be exploring the possibility, with American and Taiwanese forces observing the Chinese Navy in waters near Taiwan in activity that has been characterized as a potential preparation for cutting Taiwan off entirely.
Dependence on undersea cables has left us vulnerable
While many people think the internet is fully wireless given the prevalence of wireless devices in modern times, almost all internet traffic depends on the fiber optics laid across the ocean floor. These cables are vital for everyday life around the world, facilitating 99% of internet traffic, along with data transfers and phone calls.
They are also vulnerable to accidents involving fishing and anchors. In 2017, a ship accidentally severed a submarine telecommunication cable off the Somalian coast. The incident ended up costing the country $10 million a day and resulted in a three-week internet outage. The effects on a bigger and more modern country would be even more dramatic.
An American official said that if Russia were to sabotage underseas infrastructure, it would be considered a major escalation and handled accordingly.
“Any activities that damaged seabed infrastructure including undersea cables especially during periods of heightened tensions risks misunderstandings and misperceptions that could lead to unintended escalation. The US would be especially concerned about damage to our or our allies’ critical undersea infrastructure,” the official said.
From downed payment systems to supply chain disruptions and essential goods shortages, the effects would be devastating. Transportation networks, power grids and water networks could all be impacted. Sadly, we’ve become so dependent on connectivity that we’re just a few dozen cut cables away from one of the biggest economic disasters in history.
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