Tech

The Internet’s undersea backbone is slipping into the danger zone

Read full article at source ↗

Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 14/10/2026, 15:43:24 UTC.

Briefings

A new book by Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, identifies undersea cables as critical infrastructure vulnerable to sabotage from gray-zone warfare and open conflicts. The evidence highlights that while Starlink and satellite services expand, most global traffic relies on subsea fiber-optic cables. These cables face rising risks due to increased maritime incidents, including anchor dragging by fishing and shipping vessels, which causes approximately 150 to 200 cable damages annually. About 60% of these damages result from human error during navigation, with natural hazards like storms and landslides contributing less. The book covers incidents from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, noting that repairs typically occur within a year.

Key points

• Most of the world's Internet traffic travels through subsea fiber-optic cables rather than satellite services, despite the expansion of Starlink and other communications satellite services.
• Between 150 and 200 undersea cables are damaged annually, with approximately 60% of these damages caused by human error during fishing and shipping activities involving weighted nets or anchors.

Context

The book 'Undersea War' by Elisabeth Braw explores the modern rise in suspicious incidents where ships drag anchors, cutting or damaging undersea cables and pipelines. This finding is significant because it highlights a growing threat to global connectivity driven by open conflicts and gray-zone warfare, challenging the assumption that undersea infrastructure is immune to intentional sabotage.

Limitations

The evidence is limited to the book's scope covering incidents from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The article does not provide specific dates for the sabotage incidents or detailed causal claims linking specific conflicts to the damage. The data on repair times and the proportion of damages due to natural hazards are estimates rather than verified statistics.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 19/10/2026, 04:04:52 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

View archived briefing on IPFS
bafybeieonyom3w6cssradqrqhyyxuujdkondrfektxexcez7ds6xyefrwm