Will the global Internet be broken if all of the undersea cable lines are attacked?

Optical fiber lines running along the ocean contain almost all digital communication globally. So if something is wrong or a terrorist organization attacks the undersea cable, what terrible thing will happen.

US Navy officers have warned of the possibility of sea optical cable attacks. According to Britain's top military official, if that happens economies will be "extremely catastrophic". Meanwhile, NATO is currently planning to monitor the operation of cable routes in the North Atlantic.

Will the global Internet be broken if all of the undersea cable lines are attacked? Picture 1

So, is it that if some of the damaged submarine cable lines will break the global Internet connection?

According to Nicole Starosielski, a professor at New York University, if a terrorist nation or organization destroys marine cable, the consequences will not be as serious as the picture given by military organizations. . The ability they can break the whole system is very small.

It is estimated that there are about 428 marine optical cable routes worldwide. Many areas, such as Europe, America, and East Asia, have many active cable routes (maps of all marine fiber optic cables).

It is not unusual for every few days to have a few broken cables. Even if we do not realize that the cable route is down because if an undersea optical cable is broken, your connection will be transferred to another cable.

And the cause of broken sea optical cable is usually due to underwater earthquakes, rocky slopes, anchors and boats.

Will the global Internet be broken if all of the undersea cable lines are attacked? Picture 2

We often don't see a faulty cable route, because if a fishing boat or a certain anchor fails the marine fiber cable, your connection will simply be transferred to another cable. In fact, when each of the Atlantic Ocean's fiber optic cables goes down, Internet traffic will be transferred to other Pacific cables. Therefore, the ability to connect to the global Internet is affected if some unrighteous country or a terrorist organization deliberately sabotages the undersea cable.

Alan Mauldin, research director of TeleGeography, a market research company specializing in telecommunications, including undersea cables, said that if that happens, the Internet will not work at the highest quality. It's not a phenomenon as if there's no Internet connection going on. If all underground cables are broken, you can still send emails to people in the US but those in Europe will not know what you posted on Facebook.

But that does not mean that we are not careful to protect the world's optical fiber cable, especially in Africa and some Southeast Asia regions, where there is less Internet infrastructure. Here, if incidents occur with marine optical cable routes, the consequences may be more serious, including disruption of Internet connectivity in many parts of the world.

In 2011, the Internet connection in Armenia was disconnected for five hours by an elderly woman while a fellow searcher accidentally interrupted the underground cable route, which is very important, providing almost all access rights. Internet access of Armenia.

Sea cable lines that must pass through narrow waters are the boundaries of some countries, such as in the Straits of Malacca and the Red Sea which are at risk of being threatened for reasons such as anchoring or geopolitical disputes.

Some countries contain large numbers of cables that also contain great risks. For example, if Egyptian sea cables are broken, at least 1/3 of the global Internet may collapse.

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