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US FCC to update undersea cable regulations amid suspected cable sabotage incidents — proposals include restricting Chinese companies from building cable components | The protection of undersea internet cables is a matter of national security.

The protection of undersea internet cables is a matter of national security.

This physical network handles over 98% of internet traffic, and while damage to one or two cables, especially for well-connected areas, would have a minor impact, any major disruption caused by a deliberate and well-coordinated attack would have global ramifications. For example, while the average user simply relies on these cables for entertainment (i.e., streaming music and videos, casual browsing, and online gaming), the international financial market is also heavily reliant on the internet, and losing that could cost millions if not billions, of dollars in lost productivity. “With the expansion of data centers, rise of cloud computing, and increasing bandwidth demands of new large language models, these facilities are poised to grow even more critical,” FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel said, referring to undersea communications cables.

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