Protecting the internet: the threat to subsea cables

The vast majority of global connectivity is carried through cable systems running along the seabed, but subsea cables are vulnerable to damage and attack. Nicole Deslandes investigates how this threat can disrupt businesses and looks at what's being done to protect them

Resting on the ocean floor, spanning 1.4 million kilometres of seas and oceans, is the world’s internet. Subsea cable systems form the backbone of intercontinental internet connections, keeping global economies afloat and intertwined, but they are increasingly coming under new threats.

The cable systems – at least the newer ones – are fibre-optic pipelines delivering data at light-speed across the ocean bed, but despite their importance to global infrastructure, they are surprisingly vulnerable. The fibres themselves are made of wafer-thin glass, but, to keep them safe from common threats, they are encased in a pipe comprising polycarbonate, aluminium, steel wires, and polyethylene.

Around 570 submarine cables are in operation today, and they are the data highway between countries across the globe. They are also, in many ways, the West’s Achilles Heel.

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