An undersea internet cable lurking in the depths. Foreign policy analysts argue that these conduits, the effective backbone of the global internet, are in danger of being sabotaged by hostile powers. (Photo by JesperG/Shutterstock)
Tech Monitor: Could undersea cables be the next casualty of hybrid warfare?
The UK, Italy and France are all investing in new ships and infrastructure to protect the internet from Russian aggression. Critics argue they’re overreacting.
The Akademik Boris Petrov is officially listed as a research vessel. About 75 metres long and moored, at the time of writing, in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the ship’s official purpose is to survey the ocean depths. Others believe its role is more nefarious. Labelled a ‘spy ship’ by several UK tabloids, the vessel’s brilliant white silhouette has been variously described as skulking away from the Shetland Islands just after its undersea internet cable connection to the rest of the world was severed, and being forced out of the Netherlands’ territorial waters by that country’s coastguard under suspicion of mapping the underwater infrastructure syphoning natural gas and internet traffic in and out of Western Europe.
To clarify, the Akademik Boris Petrov has not been officially labelled as a Russian spy vessel by any government, and neither has it been conclusively linked to acts of sabotage or espionage as they pertain to undersea internet cables. But Western capitals are worried.
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WNU Editor: The deliberate destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines last year has opened the door that undersea infrastructures are now fair game. To me it is a given that it is only a matter of time before the West's undersea internet infrastructure is targeted as the war in Ukraine escalates.
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