- Deliberate sabotage by “malign actors” is increasing under the cloak of “plausible deniability”
- The immense amounts of vital data carried by submarine cable systems cannot be replaced or even ameliorated by satellites or microwaves
- Lack of a coherent global strategy to counteract sabotage has resulted in a seadog’s dinner of uncoordinated, patchy and partial responses
- Absence of concerted international action will eventually result in bigger, economically and socially paralysing outages and unrest
Given the evident reality of deteriorating geo-political relationships and global economic tensions, submarine comms cables are under more threat than ever before from an enlarged and increasingly aggressive coterie of state-run or state-sponsored “malign actors” and, to make matters worse, the capacities and capabilities of the West and its allies to prevent or repair either physical or cyberattacks on submarine networks are declining.
These are the conclusions of a new report from Recorded Future, the US cybersecurity and threat intelligence organisation that is headquartered in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts. The company provides end-to-end intelligence, ranging from identified and potential adversaries and infrastructure to targets. The research report, “Submarine cables face increasing threats amid geopolitical tensions and limited repair capacity”, is published by the Insikt Group, which is Recorded Future's threat research division, whose staff includes analysts and security researchers with deep government, law enforcement, military and intelligence agency experience.
