95% of the world's internet turned out to be under threat

Specialists have found that powerful underwater currents capable of tearing internet cables on the ocean floor occur much more often than experts previously assumed. We are talking about so-called “supercurrents” — giant flows of water and sediment that move along the seabed at the speed of a car and sweep away everything in their path.

The problem is that more than 95% of all global internet traffic passes through undersea cables. They are what support the operation of banks, social networks, cloud services, international communications and financial transactions. If such a cable is damaged, entire regions may face communication disruptions for weeks or even months.

Until now, it was believed that most damage was caused by ship anchors, fishing nets or earthquakes. However, the new study showed that dangerous underwater flows occur significantly more often and can travel hundreds of kilometers along the ocean floor, destroying infrastructure over long distances.

The study comes amid growing concern over the security of underwater communications. In recent years, several high-profile incidents involving cable damage have occurred around the world, and China recently tested a device capable of cutting undersea communication lines at depths of up to 3,500 meters. This has sparked a new wave of debate about how secure the global internet infrastructure really is.

In effect, scientists warn that the threat to the world's internet may come not only from states and saboteurs, but also from nature itself. And if the study's findings are confirmed, operators will have to reconsider the routes of future cables and invest billions of dollars in additional protection for the underwater network.