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Submarine cables, Europe under the threat of an internet blackout
Audio 02:10
Screenshot of the World Submarine Cable Map as of March 9, 2022. © https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
By: Dominique Desaunay Follow
3 mins
All our public and private telecommunications depend on submarine cables.
In the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western armed forces envisaged the worst-case scenario, that of a total Internet blackout in Europe in the event of the destruction of these highways of information plying the seabed.
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We mistakenly think that our smartphones, computers and other computer machines are connected to each other via satellite connections, radio waves, or Wifi.
But whether they are for the general public or to ensure the activities of any company in the world, almost all of our electronic communications, including our voice exchanges by mobiles, depend 99% on
cables under -sailors
.
Since President Vladimir Putin's recent declarations of "
unknown consequences
" for those who would oppose him, the hypothesis of a serious disruption of the Internet in Europe by destroying
undersea cables
deserves be taken into consideration,
Serge Besanger,
professor at the International Business School of Paris and Lyon and at the Institute of Higher Economic and Commercial Studies.
“
A total shutdown of the global Internet, however, remains quite unlikely, as it would require a belligerent to be able to cut these cables simultaneously in several places.
On the other hand, what is considered in Europe as highly probable would be the possibility of cutting one of the major transatlantic cables which connect the continent to the rest of the world,
explains Serge Besanger.
It is enough to send in international waters a "fishing boat" in quotation marks or so-called oceanographic vessels, to carry out these sabotage operations.
However, we are now seeing that more and more Russian ships are plying near the coasts of France and Ireland through which these motorways of the
»
.
Deter potential sabotage operations
“
To dissuade these boats from acting, it would be necessary to be able to send patrol boats and frigates on the spot.
The fleets, which are mainly French and those less important from other
European countries, are currently in short supply, following the budget reductions decided by Europe for 10 years which would have made it possible to maintain their full intervention capacity,
adds Serge Besanger
.
Funding to build them has indeed been voted recently, but these new buildings will not be operational until 2026 or 2027. The criminal acts committed by the major world powers against submarine cables have existed for a long time.
Especially in 2017 and 2018, with the intentional uprooting over several meters of these fiber optic bundles at the bottom of the waters, each of which is no bigger than a garden hose.
This destruction has led to micro-cuts and disruptions in financial flows and computer systems for international monetary exchanges
”
.
"
This is why the threat of an attack on Internet submarine cables in this tense context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is taken very seriously by Western armed forces. .
concludes Professor Besanger.
If since the immersion in the 19th century of the first telegraph cables crossing the oceans, the great powers of the world have been engaged in a "hybrid war" under the seas, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has just intensified the threats which weigh on the critical and submarine infrastructures of the Internet.
The question of their protection was discussed by the
European Ministers of Electronic Communications
, during a meeting held on 8 and 9 March as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
►If you have any questions or suggestions, you can write to us at
nouvelles.technologies@rfi.fr.
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