Undersea Internet Cable Severed, Sparking Fears of Russian Sabotage
A critical underwater Internet cable linking Finland to Germany was severed on Monday, raising suspicions of Russian sabotage.
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The cause of the damage is under investigation, but Finnish state-owned data service provider Cinia said it was likely the result of human activity.
“Such breaks without external impact do not happen in these waters,” said Cinia ceo Ari-Jussi Knaapila.
The incident comes after Finland joined nato last year, infuriating Moscow and leaving Finland fearful of reprisal.
History of sabotage: Russia and its partners have a history of targeting the undersea infrastructure of their enemies.
- In 2021, Russia was likely behind the mysterious disappearance of miles of cables off the coast of Norway.
- In 2023, Chinese ships “accidentally” disabled the only two undersea cables connecting Taiwan’s Matsu Islands to the Internet.
- In 2023, Finnish investigators said a Russia-flagged ship and a Chinese vessel likely caused damage to a telecom cable in the Baltic Sea connecting Sweden and Estonia.
America’s Achilles’ heel: A network of over 400 underwater cables transmits 99 percent of international data. Damage to even a few of these cables can cause serious disruptions to Internet use. Russia and China understand how dependent Western nations are on this technology, and they appear to be increasingly targeting it.
The Trumpet has been warning about America’s technology vulnerability for almost 30 years. In our January 1995 issue, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote:
America is the greatest superpower this world has ever known. But we have a very vulnerable point in our military—our own Achilles’ heel. Exploiting this vulnerable point may trigger the greatest shock in the history of warfare! … Computer dependence is the Western world’s Achilles’ heel, and within a few years this weakness could be tested to the full.
Nearly three decades later, America’s cybersecurity weakness is being exposed like never before.
Learn more: Read our article “The Undersea Threat to the Internet.”