Pipelines and cables: how safe is the underwater infrastructure?

Gas and power lines and gigantic internet cables lie on the seabed – they have become new targets for cybercriminals and hostile states, warn security experts from the EU and NATO.

The explosions brought it to light: Pipelines lie relatively unprotected on the seabed. Obviously, such lines can be damaged, from the inside or from the outside, without attracting much attention.

How safe are the underwater lines that supply us with gas and electricity, such as the more than 1,000-kilometer-long high-voltage cables in the Baltic Sea that bring electricity from Finland to Germany? This has been discussed for years by security experts in Brussels, in the EU and at NATO – and the inventory has been critical for years.

New targets for cybercriminals

“The critical infrastructure secures our life, our work and our functioning as a society,” says David van Weel, who is responsible for new threats at NATO. The lines, pipelines and cables of the infrastructure have become a target for cybercriminals and hostile states – this is increasing, and in his estimation the boundaries between peace, crises and conflict are becoming increasingly blurred.

Barely protected on the sea floor are not only gas and power lines, but also gigantic internet cables that secure almost all communication around the globe. Almost 400 submarine cables with a length of around 1.3 million kilometers lie on the seabed. They transport data, connect continents, companies and customers who order something. The cloud data is not in the clouds either, but under the water of the oceans.

For years, secret services and the military have pointed out that Russia and China are specifically spying on the underwater structure of the NATO countries. “NATO has taken important measures to respond to the new threats,” reports security expert van Weel. Attacks on the infrastructure are special attacks that, under certain circumstances, could be rated as serious “like an armed attack”.

NATO: Moscow’s submarine forces more active

Tapping undersea cables can provide valuable information to Russia and China. And if the cables were damaged, communications between the US and NATO allies would be severed. With dramatic consequences for the economy. Data traffic across the Atlantic is currently doubling every two years.

At NATO it is said that Moscow’s submarine forces are becoming more and more active – ultra-modern submarines with a diving depth of up to 6000 meters could dive to the transatlantic cables on the seabed. On the other hand, there are no submarines on the western side, which carry out maintenance and inspections at the enormous depths.

The European Union has at least recognized the problem of the vulnerability of its infrastructure, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said yesterday: “Fortunately we have taken measures to protect the critical infrastructure, which was initiated in the summer.”

However, the Justice Commissioner in Brussels has to admit: All of this is just beginning, the member states still have to implement the measures to protect the energy supply, drinking water and the digital infrastructure. After the events in the gas pipelines, however, this must be accelerated.