<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/02/australia-is-connected-to-the-world-by-cables-no-thicker-than-a-garden-hose-and-at-risk-from-sharks-accidents-and-sabotage>
"More than 1m kilometres of cables snake along the world’s ocean floor,
ferrying data between distant lands. Fibre-optic filaments whisk emails,
Netflix and military secrets through deep water, where the cord – about as
thick as a garden hose – gathers barnacles and seaweed.
Australia is connected to 15 of them (that we know of), with the main landing
stations in Sydney and Perth. They are buried under the beach, then fed out
into the open water at depths of up to 8km before re-emerging in landing
stations in Singapore, Oman and Hawaii, among others.
And they’re vulnerable to sabotage and accidents, to hacking and (very
occasionally) sharks.
Last month two cables in the Baltic Sea – one connecting Finland and Germany,
the other connecting Sweden and Lithuania – were damaged in a suspected
sabotage attack.
They were damaged at about the same time a Chinese-registered ship passed over
them.
On Thursday the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said the Baltic Sea
was now a “high-risk” zone.
And experts say Australia’s own cables are not immune from threats.
Despite the blustering promises of satellite technology, and despite the
difficulty of building infrastructure thousands of metres beneath the surface,
these cables still carry 99% of Australia’s data.
They can carry up to 300 terabits of data a second, making their capacity
“virtually limitless”.
The maritime security expert Sam Bashfield is a research fellow at the
University of Melbourne’s Australia India Institute.
He says satellites are critical for remote areas, war zones and some backup,
but the “backbone” of the internet are cables."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
