Baltic Sea cable sabotage: Europe's hidden vulnerabilities
The Polish Economic Institute reports in Thursday's edition of Economic Weekly that despite the severance of two telecommunications lines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, network traffic was almost unaffected. The institute points out, however, that there are sensitive points in Europe for similar sabotage.
2:52 PM EST, November 28, 2024
In the middle of the month, internet cables at the bottom of the Baltic Sea were cut. These cables connect Lithuania with Sweden and Finland with Germany. The institute states that despite this, the internet was functioning impeccably.
"This means that the infrastructure providing digital connectivity in our region is well-developed, and alternative routes for signal transmission are available for individual connections," assessed Ignacy Święcicki from the Polish Economic Institute in Thursday's edition of "Economic Weekly."
According to the think tank, this continuity occurred because internet traffic is also transmitted via terrestrial and satellite connections. In the case of Finland or Sweden, the route by sea is significantly shorter. The institute notes that in Poland, there is only one submarine cable, but connections to the world are robust precisely due to terrestrial links.
Sensitive points in Europe
However, Europe, often referred to as the Old Continent, is not completely immune to this type of "failure." For instance, island nations rely on submarine infrastructure - in the EU, this includes Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus.
A crucial location in this context is Marseille in France, which is located on the Mediterranean Sea. From there, as many as 16 cables connect Europe with Africa and Asia. Additionally, Marseille is a major hub housing data centers.
"Such locations may be particularly vulnerable to various types of attacks aimed at disrupting telecommunications," emphasizes the institute.
The European Commission and NATO are not indifferent to this threat, the institute evaluated. Evidence of this is the first meeting of NATO's network of experts on submarine critical infrastructure, which took place in May of this year. Three months earlier, the European Commission, in a White Paper devoted to developing the telecommunications market, highlighted the necessity of ensuring the security of submarine cables.
Importantly, the role of submarine cables will grow in the coming years, and attacks are not the only threats, warns the institute.
"The Union risks dependency on a small number of providers of critical infrastructure, similar to the case of cloud computing or AI tools controlled by the largest American companies," the Polish think tank alarms.
What happened in the Baltic Sea?
On November 17 and 18, two submarine telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged: C-Lion 1 and BCS East-West Interlink. The situation occurred in the Swedish economic zone. The crew of the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 is suspected of severing the cables.
The vessel is currently anchored in international waters in the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden, surrounded by Danish and Swedish ships. Swedish and German authorities are negotiating the possibility of boarding and questioning the crew. The ship's captain is a Chinese citizen, and among the crew is a Russian national.
On Wednesday, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that investigators examining the cable break on the Baltic seabed suspect that the detained Chinese container ship intentionally cut the wires. According to the WSJ findings, the investigation is focusing on whether the ship's captain committed sabotage on orders from Russian services.
