Are we dangerously dependent on submarine cables?

A new study from the School of Sustainability at Reichman University has warned that submarine communication cables — the backbone of global internet infrastructure — are dangerously vulnerable to both natural disasters and deliberate sabotage, posing systemic risks to international communication, commerce and security.

The peer-reviewed paper, by the Dean of the School of Sustainability, Dr Asaf Tzachor, has been published in Nature Electronics. It examines the various threats to submarine cables, which transmit over 95% of the world’s international data.

“The world’s overreliance on a uniform submarine cable network is a textbook case of a progress trap,” Tzachor said. “While cables have enabled a connected planet, they also represent a fragile chokepoint in global communications.”

The impact of natural disasters on submarine cables was witnessed in the 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which unleashed a tsunami and underwater shockwaves that snapped the fibre-optic connection between Tonga and Fiji, plunging the island nation into digital isolation for weeks.

In 2011, Japan’s devastating 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake disrupted trans-Pacific telecommunications, while a 2006 earthquake off Taiwan’s southwest coast triggered submarine landslides in the Luzon Strait that severed critical cables linking Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Japan. The fallout of the latter incident was global, with Hong Kong’s internet nearly paralysed, and financial markets around the world affected.

In the past 18 months alone, submarine cables in the Red Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific have been damaged — some likely the result of deliberate sabotage — disrupting data flows across continents and underscoring the risks of relying on a single, vulnerable communications backbone.

Accidental damage from ship anchors and deep-sea trawlers causes frequent disruptions, while the growing trend of targeted cable sabotage by state and non-state actors could see an increase in intentional, high-impact blackouts.

If left unaddressed, these compounding vulnerabilities could cascade into large-scale communications failures with serious consequences.

Thinking beyond the ocean floor

Tzachor has devised an ambitious yet scientifically grounded roadmap for diversifying global communications infrastructure, envisioning three alternative systems that could together reduce our overreliance on vulnerable submarine cables.

The first is satellite-based laser communication networks — already in operation through NASA and commercial ventures like Starlink. These low-Earth-orbit constellations can deliver fibre-like data speeds without the seismic or geopolitical risks that threaten undersea systems. While atmospheric interference remains a technical hurdle, advances in beam steering, adaptive optics and high-throughput inter-satellite links suggest enormous potential, according to Tzachor.

The second solution is high-altitude platform systems, or HAPS, which involve solar-powered drones and airships stationed in the stratosphere. Acting as floating, low-latency data relays, these have proven useful in emergencies and remote regions. Though still early in development, prototypes have shown that they could one day provide agile and resilient internet infrastructure — particularly for areas underserved by current cable networks.

The third, more speculative, approach, involves autonomous underwater optical wireless networks — swarms of robotic vehicles equipped with blue-green lasers, forming a dynamic mesh of short-range optical links beneath the sea. These systems could offer critical redundancy near existing cables, and are especially promising for military, deep-sea energy and environmental monitoring applications.

However, Tzachor cautioned that technology alone wouldn’t be enough to secure the future of global communications. His paper calls for coordinated public–private action on a scale not seen since the rise of the semiconductor industry. Governments are urged to step up with targeted funding, policy reform and international agreements. This includes incentivising research into alternative communications, setting clear standards for space-debris mitigation and orbital traffic management, and aligning frequency, airspace and oceanic regulations across borders.

“Cable redundancy isn’t enough. We need genuine diversification of the global digital infrastructure if we’re to withstand 21st-century threats — from geohazards to geopolitical conflict,” Tzachor said.

The article is available via subscription at DOI: 10.1038/s41928-025-01424-z.

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