Originally Posted by
alemaobaiano
A quick search seems to show that commercial vessels are a bigger threat than anything else. If an undersea cable can be trashed by a ship dropping anchor it doesn't seem that Russia...
The odd cable being damaged being damaged by commercial vessel is factored into the upkeep of these networks. Repair and replacement is expensive but there are vessels dedicated to this task.
Military compromise is a very different beast. A potential adversary can spend years mapping, locating and attaching multiple devices to these networks. Should the perceived need arise then these networks could be severed en-masse.
Unfortunately there isn’t the capacity to repair your way out of the damage as the infrastructure doesn’t exist to support such a massive task. Even if you did repair key links it still takes a considerable amount of time and it still leaves you with the thorny problem of providing protection on an induring basis for the replacement.
Lines of communications have been a political and military objective since the dawn of conquest. But unlike roads, bridges, geographic boundaries and alike our essential international networks are located in a place that is not owned by anyone, offers free access to anyone and is both difficult to monitor and defend.