Russia x submarine cables: Understand the geopolitical confusion that could leave you without internet

Evidence of increased Russian activity near the undersea cables that carry most of the world’s internet traffic has been detected by the United States in recent months. CNNIn September. Could the Russian government be considering shutting down the internet?

According to American officials interviewed by the broadcaster, Moscow’s move indicates an increasing tendency to carry out sabotage operations on this maritime infrastructure, affecting a critical part of global communications. The Russians even have a military unit dedicated to espionage work.

This secret group, known as the General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI), has a fleet of ships, submarines and maritime unmanned aerial vehicles. Equipment often seen near cablesAccording to sources.

“We are concerned about Russia’s intensified naval activities around the world and that Russia’s decision-making calculus may change towards damaging critical U.S. and allied submarine infrastructure,” said one of the interviewees. According to the report, this concern did not exist before.

Attack authorization

American allies, who also monitored Russian naval activities, noticed the same movement in the seas north of Europe. Caught in 2023 in an investigation by public broadcasters in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway Spy ships sent by the Kremlin are approaching submarine cables and wind farms.

According to the investigation, which included wiretapping of radio conversations, data analysis and intelligence sources, at least 50 ships have operated in the region in recent years. They would map the locations of possible attacks on underwater infrastructure.

The same type of activity by the Chinese navy has been spotted in waters near Taiwan, prompting rumors that Beijing was preparing to cut cables there. It is worth remembering that China continues to cooperate with Russia in the military field.

Another development that worried the international community was the statement made by Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev. He said this last year There was no reason not to destroy the enemies’ submarine cablesIn retaliation for allegations of complicity in the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in 2022.

How important are submarine internet cables?

Necessary for global communication, Submarine cables are responsible for 95% of all global communicationsAccording to the Internet Society, countries and continents are currently being connected. Among countless other things, it allows you to email someone on the other side of the world in seconds and have live video calls with people anywhere.

Right now, This huge network consists of more than 600 cablesTravels approximately 1.5 million kilometers between active and plannedWe cross all oceans. It began to be used for the telegraph connecting North America to Europe in the 1850s.

In Brazil, on the coast of Fortaleza, there is a fiber optic cable hub with 16 active cables from various companies, serving as a strategic location for operators. The Ministry of Transport states: At least 90% of the country’s internet traffic passes through the connection point in the capital Ceará.

Brazil/USA route with emphasis on the Fortaleza/Miami section, most relevant in terms of data volume in the worldright now. However, according to Lucenildo Lins, CTO of Angola Cables, the centers in Marsella (France), Singapore, Dijbuti and Fujairah (United Arab Emirates) are also of great importance for global connectivity.

Consequences of a possible collapse

According to Lins, the system has a set of backup paths that can move capabilities from one wire to another in the event of an outage. However, the impact can be quite large, limiting and degrading the quality of global communications and even disrupting connectivity in certain regions.

Depending on the center affected by possible Russian sabotage, he states: It will take 15 to 30 days for alternative routes to accommodate the interrupted traffic. Already The deadline for repairing the damaged structure can be up to 45 days.

In Brazil, where digital products depend on communication with servers abroad, especially in the USA, Even a partial accident could affect some of the most used services in the country. The statement came from Thiago Ayub, technology director of Sage Networks. TecMundo relevant.

According to Ayub, this would represent a “blackout of the Brazilian internet.” Affecting services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Bing, TikTok, Netflix, ChatGPTwhich, among other things, will seriously impair usability. Even the complete unavailability of these platforms cannot be ruled out.

Pix also highlights financial transactions including debits and withdrawals could also be damaged by an attack on submarine cablesSome fintechs have transferred some of their IT infrastructure abroad.

As for the consequences for Russia, both interviewees said that it does not depend so much on sea connectivity and, therefore, will be less affected. In addition, the country has national versions of popular services such as Google (Yandex), Gmail (Mail.ru) and Facebook (VK), making the country independent of international servers.

Network protection and connection alternatives

Strengthening monitoring of spy ships and submarines As experts note, this is the main way to protect this infrastructure. This work needs to be carried out by the Armed Forces and may require the use of sensors that help detect movement around the cables.

Regarding technologies such as satellite internet that will provide connection in case of sabotage, Ayub underlines that wireless communication has lower capacity and quality than wired communication. He states that there is no expectation for this medium to be used as the main signal provider in the long term.

“The satellite’s job is to carry the signal to areas currently unreachable by cables.such as rural areas, boats and airplanes. “In space, the satellite acts as a kind of mirror: the signal from the subscriber’s home is reflected back to Earth at the closest possible location to be converted into optical fiber,” he explained.

Lins acknowledges and reinforces the role of satellites as a complementary technology. In addition, the connection used by companies such as Starlink does not have the capacity to absorb the volume of traffic and data passing through cables.

“To illustrate this, we can talk about a car and a train, where the modes are submarine cables and the people are data. The vehicle will have satellite broadcasting. It goes anywhere but carries no more than five people. “Trains connect to two fixed points, but they carry many more people,” he said.