In the age of Great Power Competition, the threat posed to critical information and telecommunications technology is at an all-time high: here is what you need to know.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies recently published a report investigating the vulnerability of undersea cable systems for possible Chinese and other foreign exploitation. Findings in the report include:
- “The roughly 600 cables planned or currently operational worldwide, spanning approximately 1.2 million kilometers, are the world’s information superhighways and provide the high-bandwidth connections necessary to support the rise of cloud computing and integrated 5G networks, transmitting everything from streaming videos and financial transactions to diplomatic communications and essential intelligence”
- “Cables are the backbone of global telecommunications and the internet, given that user data (e.g., e-mail, cloud drives, and application data) are often stored in data centers around the world. This infrastructure effectively facilitates daily personal use of the internet and broader societal functions”
- “China’s rapid emergence as a leading subsea cable provider and owner has been the centerpiece of Beijing’s ambitious Digital Silk Road initiative launched in 2015, which aims to capture 60 percent of the global fiber-optic cable market by targeting emerging economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific”
- “The scale and exposure of undersea infrastructure also make it an easy target for saboteurs operating in the gray zone of “deniable attacks short of war”
- “Russia relies significantly less on subsea cables than either the United States or China due to its position as a continental power with internet connectivity to Europe and Central Asia and less of a focus on international trade. This makes Russia less vulnerable to disruptions in subsea cable infrastructure and potentially more willing to exploit these vulnerabilities in other nations”
The report highlights the importance of critical information and telecommunications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the rising potential for U.S. adversaries to seize upon these vulnerabilities as opportunities to cripple global critical infrastructure which would have ripple effects witnessed within the global financial sector, supply chains, and international communication networks.
Recommendations provided by the report include the U.S. leveraging its strategic partnerships with allies to mitigate vulnerabilities with collective support for development finance institutions (DFIs), multilateral development banks (MDBs), export credit agencies (ECAs), government agencies to better secure global financial infrastructures and cables against attack.
Secondly, the report suggests that the United States should fortify subsea cables by building a resiliency-focused infrastructure including expanding cable repair capacity, increasing federal funding and expanding security for cable networks through expediting permitting processes.
Additionally, the report suggests developing the groundwork for an international legal framework on defending valuable undersea cable networks that would serve to establish accountability and a proper process for determining proper penalty for exploitation by adversaries.
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