The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that it will review and update its rules regarding submarine communications cables, especially after the incident in the Baltic Sea earlier this week where a Chinese freighter sailing from Russia is suspected to have sabotaged two undersea internet cables that connect Sweden and Finland to the rest of Central Europe, not to mention numerous other cable sabotage incidents spanning multiple regions this year. According to Reuters, this update will address the U.S.’s national security concerns for the more than 400 undersea cables that keep the world interconnected.
This physical network handles over 98% of internet traffic, and while damage to one or two cables, especially for well-connected areas, would have a minor impact, any major disruption caused by a deliberate and well-coordinated attack would have global ramifications. For example, while the average user simply relies on these cables for entertainment (i.e., streaming music and videos, casual browsing, and online gaming), the international financial market is also heavily reliant on the internet, and losing that could cost millions if not billions, of dollars in lost productivity.
