As tensions rise between the US and Russia, mutual suspicion has reached a long dormant
high.
In October, the US accused Russia of significantly increased activity along communication cables
on the ocean floor.
Wiretapping, or cutting the cables altogether, could have far reaching and disastrous consequences.
So we wanted to know, just how much damage could Russia do by cutting undersea cables?
First off, chances are high that you’re watching this video thanks to undersea cables.
Especially if you live outside of the United States.
Undersea cables deliver up to 99% of international communications.
The other 1 percent is served by satellites, but they are considerably slower.
Across the ocean floor, there are reportedly 278 cables in service, connecting every continent
on earth besides Antarctica.
Today, these cables transmit phone calls, internet data, and other forms of digital
traffic at a rate of up to 80 terabytes per second.
The longest cable connects Western Europe to Australia and East Asia, and is nearly
25,000 miles long.
But these cables haven’t always been the fiber optic powerhouses they are today.
The first submarine cables were laid in the 1850s, and used to transmit telegrams.
Over the past century and a half, those lines have been repeatedly upgraded and repaired
to connect the world and provide the basis for a more global community.
The problem is that because these cables are thousands of miles long and run across the
ocean floor, it is almost impossible to keep an eye on them.
Which is why the US is so concerned about Russia’s activities.
Of course, cutting an important cable would be difficult to deal with, but not unsolvable.
Cables are regularly damaged accidentally by passing ships, broken by earthquakes, and
even torn open by sharks.
In 2007, more than 50 repairs were made in the Atlantic Ocean alone.
Still, during the Cold War, Russia was repeatedly accused of intentionally breaking communications
cables.
This would have been in violation of the Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph
Cables.
This 1884 treaty made it illegal to damage undersea cables, and even provided a way for
ships which had inadvertently snagged a cable, to seek compensation for a lost anchor or
fishing net.
But what the US may fear more than Russia cutting a cable, is them wiretapping it.
This fear is so great because the US already did exactly that to Russia in the early 1970s.
The project, codenamed Operation Ivy Bells, saw the National Security Agency successfully
place a listening device on a Russian undersea cable.
It stayed in place for nearly a decade, monitoring sensitive communication.
Undersea cables are integral to modern day communications.
In 2008, damaged cables cut off internet access for 75 million people in the Middle East.
Of course, due to the large number of cables, most of the time data can be rerouted, and
outages are generally short-lived.
But the relatively vulnerability of the world’s international communications network is a
pretty unsettling state of affairs.
But to learn how we got these cables laid on the ocean floor in the first place, check
out my episode over on Seeker Daily.
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