A new report on an old problem. << We must do more to protect the indispensable yet insecure internet infrastructure provided by undersea cables, urges Rishi Sunak MP in a new report published by Policy Exchange, Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure. 97% of global communications and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions are transmitted not by satellites in the skies, but by cables lying deep beneath the ocean. Undersea cables are the indispensable infrastructure of our time, essential to our modern life and digital economy, yet they are inadequately protected and highly vulnerable to attack at sea and on land, from both hostile states and terrorists. US intelligence officials have spoken of Russian submarines “aggressively operating” near Atlantic cables as part of its broader interest in unconventional methods of warfare. When Russia annexed Crimea, one of its first moves was to sever the main cable connection to the outside world. Undersea cables come ashore in just a few remote, coastal locations. These landing sites are critical national infrastructure but often have minimal protection, making them vulnerable to terrorism. A foiled Al-Qaeda plot to destroy a key London internet exchange in 2007 illustrates the credibility of the threat. >> See: https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/undersea-cables-indispensable-inse... And so governments must now do something? Gordon
Hi Gordon, You mean this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_communications_cable All you need is a shovel and a big axe, and a lot of patience. If you give me enough time I might even be able to find one of those endpoints. Yes, the problem exists, and yes, when the internet goes slower than usual there will be panic, but from what I know is that these "connections" are more robust than people actually think. Its a storm in a glass of water. Julius On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 7:35 PM Gordon Lennox <gordon.lennox.13@gmail.com> wrote:
A new report on an old problem.
<< We must do more to protect the indispensable yet insecure internet infrastructure provided by undersea cables, urges Rishi Sunak MP in a new report published by Policy Exchange, Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure.
97% of global communications and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions are transmitted not by satellites in the skies, but by cables lying deep beneath the ocean. Undersea cables are the indispensable infrastructure of our time, essential to our modern life and digital economy, yet they are inadequately protected and highly vulnerable to attack at sea and on land, from both hostile states and terrorists.
US intelligence officials have spoken of Russian submarines “aggressively operating” near Atlantic cables as part of its broader interest in unconventional methods of warfare. When Russia annexed Crimea, one of its first moves was to sever the main cable connection to the outside world.
Undersea cables come ashore in just a few remote, coastal locations. These landing sites are critical national infrastructure but often have minimal protection, making them vulnerable to terrorism. A foiled Al-Qaeda plot to destroy a key London internet exchange in 2007 illustrates the credibility of the threat. >>
See:
https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/undersea-cables-indispensable-inse...
And so governments must now do something?
Gordon
On 5 Dec 2017, at 18:35, Gordon Lennox <gordon.lennox.13@gmail.com> wrote:
And so governments must now do something?
Well, what do you think governments (and others) should do about this? [Perhaps they already have taken precautions and aren't going to make that public for obvious reasons.] And more importantly, what is or should be the role of this WG in those actions? FWIW these cables get damaged from time to time anyway. ISTR a few years ago a ship dropped an anchor in a rather unfortunate location in the Mediterranean and that caused interweb traffic between Europe and Asia to go via America for a few days until the cable(s) got fixed. Most countries should have sufficient redundancy in their physical cables and landing stations. However that may not be the case for small isolated communities that are far away from where cables tend to be installed. There's always satellite as a backup I suppose.
participants (3)
-
Gordon Lennox -
Jim Reid -
Julius ter Pelkwijk