An illustration of a submarine in close quarters with an undersea communications cable. Photo: Policy Exchange
Doug Tsuruoka, Asia Times: Undersea cables the Achilles’ heel in lead-up to new cold war
Hostile acts against submerged Internet cables would put critical communications, trillions of dollars in transactions and the world economy at risk.
It’s a little-known twist in the cyber-warfare between nations that carries potentially devastating consequences. At a time when more than 95% of everything that moves on the global Internet passes through just 200 undersea fiber-optic cables, potential adversaries such as the US, Russia, China and Iran are focusing on these deep-sea information pipes as rich sources of intelligence as well as targets in war.
The weapons earmarked for the struggle include submarines, underwater drones, robots and specialized ships and divers. The new battlefield is also a gray legal zone: Current Law of the Sea conventions cover some aspects of undersea cables but not hostile acts.
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WNU Editor:There are a lot of chock-points in the world, especially in Asia.
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