Information warfareU.S. fears a Russian attack on undersea internet cables that could plunge world into chaos
It may sound far-fetched at first, but there’s a growing fear of the damage a newly aggressive Russia might inflict in a time of tension or conflict simply by damaging or cutting the undersea cables that carry almost all of the West’s Internet traffic. The perfect global cyberattack could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations in order to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, military, economies and citizens have grown dependent. Effectively this would cripple world commerce and communications, destabilize government business and introduce uncertainty into military operations. A significant volume of military data is routed via this Internet backbone. If Russia’s investment in information warfare is any measure we should be concerned — this investment in information warfare is not being matched by the United States and Europe combined.
It may sound far-fetched at first, but there’s a growing fear of the damage a newly aggressive Russia might inflict in a time of tension or conflict simply by damaging or cutting the undersea cables that carry almost all of the West’s Internet traffic.
The New York Times reported that Russian submarines and spy ships were aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables. Could they be preparing for a new form of warfare?
The perfect global cyberattack could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations in order to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, military, economies and citizens have grown dependent. Effectively this would cripple world commerce and communications, destabilize government business and introduce uncertainty into military operations. A significant volume of military data is routed via this Internet backbone.
The fiber-optic cables that carry the majority of the globe’s Internet traffic follow designated paths under the oceans. To cause world chaos, all that is needed is some “wire cutters” (realistically a submarine with a depth charge would do). This is not rocket science and there will be no need for clever hackers.
While there is no evidence yet of any “cable snipping,” there is concern among senior U.S. and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by Russian armed forces around the globe. At the same time, the internal debate in Washington illustrates how the United States is viewing Russian moves with distrust. Surveillance activity shows a significant increase in Russian activity along the known routes of the cables and more than a dozen officials confirmed in broad terms that it had become the source of significant attention in the Pentagon.
Information warfare
Talking to the BBC’s Gordon Corera, the deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Richard Ledgett, warned of the increasing danger of destructive cyber-attacks by nation states in addition to criminal organizations. A concerted cyber-attack against another nation state can result in the breaking down of society and the loss in ability to defend itself. Information warfare (IW) is an extension of electronic warfare, but importantly it embraces cyber warfare.
