Imagine life without electricity, GPS, phone signals or internet connection. Today, our reliance on undersea data and electricity cables and satellites is such that, without them, every business and household would be brought to a standstill and everyone’s life disrupted.
The world’s economy would likely come to a halt. We need to ask: How prepared are governments, infrastructure operators and institutions to mitigate the risks of malicious actions or accidents? Many have come to imagine the internet, electricity and mobile phone communication as things unseen in the atmosphere – an invisible ‘cloud’ just above our heads, raining data down upon us.
Foreign Minister Ian Borg warned EU foreign ministers that the bloc must promote joint action to protect undersea power and communication cables from any attack or similar threats. Embarrassingly, Swedish prosecutors recently investigated and, subsequently, released the Malta-flagged Vezhen that had accidentally damaged an undersea cable belonging to Latvia in Swedish territorial waters.
Yet, despite the various dangers and the increasingly vocal warning of experts, calls for greater action to secure the underwater cable network and the satellite communications systems have largely gone unanswered.
Almost all internet traffic reaches us via high-speed fibre optics on the sea floor. These are the veins of the modern world, stretching 1.5 million kilometres under the sea, connecting countries via physical cables that funnel the internet through them. Malta relies heavily on the power and data cables linking it to Sicily and is about to start laying a second power cable.
We cannot afford to sleepwalk into a cyber minefield. Ultimately, the confluence of the complex interconnectedness of the underwater power and data cables and satellite communication infrastructure means that the world is exposed to exploitable vulnerabilities by criminal and geopolitical entities alike.
The data that powers financial, government and communications is traversing cables not much thicker than a hosepipe and protected by little more than the seawater above them.
Some experts argue that research currently confirms that sharks, anchors and fishing pose a more significant threat to the global internet infrastructure than Russian spies. A US report on the issue showed that the major threats to the network are “accidental incidents involving humans”. On average, a cable is severed “every three days”.
Of course, as a small island nation in the middle of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, our heavy dependence on electricity and data communication on a few underwater cables makes us much more vulnerable to unmanageable risks.
Currently, the economic fundamentals favour building more cables across the Western world, with islands like Malta needing to rely more on underwater communications directly or indirectly with mainland Europe. Despite the warnings of sabotage or accidental damage, experts say that, without the market imperative to create more resilient networks, the real risk is that islands like Malta will suffer the most.
We need to learn lessons from examples of past cybersecurity failures that have paralysed some countries. The government must add to its increasingly long to-do list to future-proof the economy and the well-being of people by commissioning and acting on reports into the vulnerabilities within the existing undersea cable network. At the same time, infrastructure operators must work to bolster networks to ensure our cyber risk strategies effectively prevent severe disruption to the economy and people’s lives.
Much like drinking water, contemporary life is inseparable from an operational internet and a reliable electricity supply. Our voices and ability to use electric devices are literally at the bottom of the sea.