The cable hadn’t malfunctioned; it had disappeared
July 20, 2024 12:42 AM Subscribe
The modern world turns out to rely greatly on unprotected bits of equipment in remote places. “We are talking about thousands and thousands of kilometers of infrastructure between Europe and the United States and Asia,” says Katarzyna Zysk, a professor of international relations and contemporary history at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies in Oslo. “This is a network that is extremely hard to surveil, to monitor and to protect. This is infrastructure that is highly vulnerable to sabotage.” from A Subsea Cable Went Missing.
Was Russia to Blame? [Bloomberg; ungated]
Undersea shenanigans, Previously
Undersea shenanigans, Previously
Does Russia have any comparably vulnerable infrastructure?
posted by pracowity at 3:28 AM on July 20 [3 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 3:28 AM on July 20 [3 favorites]
Does Russia have any comparably vulnerable infrastructure?
That gas pipeline to Germany that they built in the East Sea maybe? That looks vulnerable.
posted by Ashenmote at 7:23 AM on July 20 [3 favorites]
That gas pipeline to Germany that they built in the East Sea maybe? That looks vulnerable.
posted by Ashenmote at 7:23 AM on July 20 [3 favorites]
The Economist had a long article about undersea cable security recently. Specifically about the concerns that in a hot war all the cables would be attacked and they are nearly impossible to defend.
This isn't new, undersea cables have been military targets going back to World War I. And there's been all sorts of cable spying for a long time, like the US in the 1970s.
Equally concerning is the prospect of attacks on communications satellites. Individual satellites are one thing, but now we have a constellation of 6000 satellites in low earth orbit. So far Russia's attacks on Starlink have been limited to local jamming in Ukraine. But I suspect the US, China, and Russia all have plausible plans for taking out the whole constellation which might create a really catastrophic situation in orbit.
posted by Nelson at 7:51 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
This isn't new, undersea cables have been military targets going back to World War I. And there's been all sorts of cable spying for a long time, like the US in the 1970s.
Equally concerning is the prospect of attacks on communications satellites. Individual satellites are one thing, but now we have a constellation of 6000 satellites in low earth orbit. So far Russia's attacks on Starlink have been limited to local jamming in Ukraine. But I suspect the US, China, and Russia all have plausible plans for taking out the whole constellation which might create a really catastrophic situation in orbit.
posted by Nelson at 7:51 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
16 5 108 93!
Reds hiding in my shower drain! They're watching all of us! They want to pervert our very way of life!
posted by jy4m at 8:14 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
Reds hiding in my shower drain! They're watching all of us! They want to pervert our very way of life!
posted by jy4m at 8:14 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
Obligatory Wired Article by Neal Stephenson (Archive)
posted by axiom at 10:47 AM on July 20 [2 favorites]
posted by axiom at 10:47 AM on July 20 [2 favorites]
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Given yesterday's interwebz fiasco, all this looks like people shaking the information highway to test its vulnerabilities in advance of "2024" (elections et al)
posted by infini at 1:53 AM on July 20 [2 favorites]