Is there a risk of an internet blackout due to sabotage in submarine cables?

Ship used to install submarine cables off the coast of the United States in June 2023 Disclosure/Prysmian Group They are the backbone of globalization: submarine cables, which stretch deep into the sea, connecting countries and continents. According to the Total Telecom platform, around 500 cables of this type crossed the oceans in 2021, reaching a length of 1.3 million kilometers. Since then, that number has increased even more. “All of the world’s information exchange is being transmitted over these cables,” says Johannes Peters, coordinator of the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the University of Kiel in Germany. “The internet, payment data and information in every form imaginable, every kind of verbal communication – all of that goes almost exclusively through these cables,” says Peters. “In other words, we are dependent on them, and that at a global level.” See the videos that are trending on g1: See the videos that are trending on g1 However, this communication structure is at risk. Not due to natural wear and tear, but due to possible acts of sabotage. An example recently occurred in the Baltic Sea. A study by the University of Washington, in Seattle, shows that around ten cables have been broken since 2022, seven of them between November 2024 and January 2025. In recent months, more cables have been destroyed. Russia was cited several times as responsible for this damage. Clues such as anchor marks or suspicious ship movements reinforce this suspicion. However, there is no conclusive evidence against Moscow, nor that the damage was truly intentional, as it could have been caused by accidents or even negligence. In addition to Russia, another country suspected of having destroyed underground cables in the Baltic Sea is China. In November 2024, Sweden asked the Chinese government to collaborate in investigating a similar breach in the region. READ MORE The goal will be to install 50,000 km of submarine cables in five countries, including Brazil 90% of the internet data that arrives in Brazil passes through a beach in Ceará Amazon’s cloud falls and takes down services around the world Concerns in the Pacific In Asia, concerns are increasing in the Pacific, where cable networks connect Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Governments in the region fear that, in the event of a conflict with China, these cables will become targets as they are critical infrastructure. According to the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies, China has developed a ship capable of cutting cables up to 4,000 meters deep. The report states that, added to tensions in strategic maritime areas, the equipment reinforces China’s ability to hit cables with precision. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) also mentioned these capabilities in the annual report sent to the US Congress. According to the report, China “has increasingly participated in activities to cut submarine cables, used as a means of pressure in the gray zone.” “At the same time, there are increasing signs that Beijing is developing new cable-cutting technologies that could be used in the event of war.” Destruction with enormous consequences For Kenny Huang, president of the Asia Pacific Information Center (APIC), responsible for registering domains in the Asia-Pacific region, the destruction of a main cable would have an immediate impact. “If the main cable gets damaged, you lose your entire internet connection,” he says. “The affected region becomes an information vacuum, as there is no longer access to the internal network,” says Huang, who is also president of the Taiwan Network Information Center. For Taiwan, a interrupted submarine cable would have a huge impact, warns the researcher. “This would completely isolate Taiwan from the outside world. Access to information would be impossible. This would have consequences not only for communication, but also for many sectors such as education, economy, military, agriculture and many others.” The same applies to other countries in the region. In addition to physical damage, cables can also be intercepted, warns Global Defense Insight magazine. “Rival countries can exploit these vulnerabilities to gain information or strategic advantages in maritime security conflicts. South Korea needs to improve its cybersecurity framework and international cooperation to protect these critical infrastructures,” the publication says. Test laboratory Destroying submarine cables does not require any gigantic effort, explains Johannes Peters from the University of Kiel. “All you need to do is drop a kind of anchor on the seabed, which can pull the cables – which are then broken at some point. You don’t need to have a particularly powerful ship”, he adds. Therefore, according to Peters, it is necessary to look at developments in the Baltic Sea from a broader perspective. “China will watch very closely how the West reacts to attacks on submarine cables. It will try to identify the corresponding problems of Western countries – in addition to technical problems, also legal ones, arising from international maritime law.” “In this sense, the Baltic Sea is currently a kind of testing laboratory for maritime hybrid warfare, which is also observed in other places on the planet”, adds Peters. Protection measures One of the points that needs to be improved is the legal protection for cables, says Kenny Huang, from the Asia Pacific Information Center. “Now, it is necessary to pass laws that allow for more severe penalties to be applied to the intentional cutting of submarine cables”, he states. The development of technical measures is also necessary, he adds. “When a cable is damaged, data traffic is typically redirected to another cable or another provider. A multi-step backup plan for daily operations can go a long way. But even with a backup plan, this is not always possible. In the case of a military attack on an undersea cable, there is no facility that can repel an offensive,” he says. Therefore, countries in the region are expanding prevention measures. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Japan and its allies have been excluding Chinese companies from cable projects with American participation. Japan has also installed cables further apart to prevent a single attack from compromising the entire network, says the entity. Countries could also designate certain areas that ships would only cross with authorization due to cables installed in those locations, Peters says. “The cables themselves can also be partially protected, for example with suitable sensor technology,” he concludes.

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