Submarine cable resilience board announced on same day maybe-cut-by-China Baltic cable repaired
- Reference: 1733117468
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/12/02/cable_advisory_board/
- Source link:
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) announcced the board last Friday, November 29th.
The 40-member body includes global ministers, regulators, industry leaders, and experts. Its goal is to promote best practices for both government and industry to ensure timely repair of the cables spanning the globe and reduce the risk of damage for enhanced continuity of communication.
[1]
Although sabotage is a suspected cause of cable outages, most damage to cables occurs from accidental human activity – such as fishing and anchoring. Natural hazards, abrasion and equipment failure also account for many faults, according to the [2]ITU .
[3]
[4]
Indeed no mention is made of intentional cable damage in the ITU's report.
The ICPC calculates that an average of 150 to 200 faults occur worldwide each year, requiring about three cable repairs per week.
[5]
Three repairs a week globally may not seem overwhelming, but considering the amount of traffic carried over the cables and how critical they've become, ITU and ICPC believe a governing board is necessary.
"Submarine cables carry over 99 per cent of international data exchanges, making their resilience a global imperative," commented ITU secretary-general Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
The inaugural Submarine Cable Resilience Summit in early 2025 will be the first physical meeting of the board, held in Abuja, Nigeria. Meetings will occur twice yearly, beginning virtually in December 2024.
[6]Chinese ship casts shadow over Baltic subsea cable snipfest
[7]Hyperscalers are carving up the ocean floor into private internet highways
[8]Russia's top-secret military unit reportedly plots undersea cable 'sabotage'
[9]Singapore to double its submarine cable landing sites by 2033
While the ICPC and ITU have not indicated they are considering sabotage as a cause of cable damage, the timing of the board's creation coincides with the [10]revelation that the Danish military monitored a Chinese ship suspected of deliberately damaging two cables in the Baltic Sea a couple of weeks back.
China has denied involvement. But the ship in question, Yi Peng 3, passed by the cables around the time each was damaged, according to marine tracking data. The cause of the cable damage is being explored by Finland's National Bureau of Investigation.
[11]
On the same day as the cable resilience board was announced, news [12]emerged that the cable – which connects Finland and Germany – was back online and fully operational.
"The fault in the submarine cable was detected on Monday 18th of November 2024 at 4:04AM, and the repair work in the Swedish [exclusive economic zone] EEZ, east of Öland, was completed ahead of schedule on Thursday 28th of November 2024 at 9PM (EET)," announced Cinia, whose majority owner is the Finnish state.
The repair was completed quickly, it said, despite the need to bring in specialized equipment from beyond the Baltic. Cinia claimed the cable outage caused only minimal disruption, but its damage highlighted the need to stay vigilant on creating redundancy systems.
CEO Ari-Jussi Knaapila declared: "The security of critical submarine infrastructure needs to be improved, and international rules need to be strengthened to increase the risk of getting caught in cases of intentional damage." ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z02TVDfmiQq7f-id6OD32gAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/PR-2024-11-29-advisory-body-submarine-cable-resilience.aspx
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z02TVDfmiQq7f-id6OD32gAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z02TVDfmiQq7f-id6OD32gAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z02TVDfmiQq7f-id6OD32gAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/21/chinese_ship_baltic_cable/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/25/aspi_hyperscaler_cables/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/09/russia_readies_submarine_cable_sabotage/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/07/singapore_to_double_submarine_cable/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/21/chinese_ship_baltic_cable/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z02TVDfmiQq7f-id6OD32gAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.cinia.fi/en/news/cinias-c-lion1-submarine-cable-has-fully-restored
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Don't be a fool
A Chinese flagged vessel that sailed from a Russian port. That's been known and stated since the very first report, before the vessel was intercepted.
"Flagged" rarely has much to do with operated - many US operated ships are flagged in the Bahamas, for example.
It takes time to investigate, and journalists are generally not allowed to report the details until it's actually gone to court, so any accused can have a fair trial. Most likely the captain will be prosecuted.
Re: Don't be a fool
"Most likely the captain will be prosecuted."
You reckon? Can't see it myself, as without full cooperation of the vessel's owners and crew the evidence remains circumstantial. On the guess that China was behind it, why? Simply as a favour to the Russians as part of the modern day Axis of Evil, and keeping in practice for cutting undersea cables that China might want to around some island state they plan to invade.
Hanlon's razor
With a time to repair of only 10 or 11 days I don't see it as likely to have been a malicious attack.
In context it takes longer than than to get your car repaired when someone drives into the back of you.
Re: Hanlon's razor
It's a public fear tactic, I believe. Not a serious threat.. yet. It's like the Russian "Research Vessel" Yantar which a few days earlier turned on its AIS in the Irish Sea and caused a minor panic.
It doesn't matter that it took a few days (at great expense, i'm sure) to repair it, the point is it made people afraid of what they could/might do.
e.g. it's much more difficult to repair an underwater high voltage power cable. Or indeed a gas pipeline
Re: Hanlon's razor
Maybe it was a test run of a new technique to try and damage undersea cables? Why do something dodgy in your own backyard where the speculation would be greater on how, who and why the incident happened? Russia and China have been cosying up a bit more recently.
I believe the water near these cables was pretty deep, deeper than most anchor chains would reach. The ship did some odd stuff in the affected area. The ship crossed both cables at almost the exact same time the cables went down - coincidence? Maybe.
A pretty good look at the movements of the ship, and the area the cables sit, can be found on What's Going on With Shipping - https://youtu.be/a7cS1aVGwUE?feature=shared
Maybe?
First it was "definitely cut by Russia," now it's "maybe cut by China," how soon before Iran gets blamed?
Or Venezuela? Or Syria? Or any of the other multitude of countries the empire is desperately trying to wage war against?