Keep pulling the thread on Josh Dzieza.
Russia and China were implicated in activities targeting subsea cables in November 2024.
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan destroyed more than half of the country's trans-Pacific subsea cables.
Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, all of Japan's international internet traffic was routed through only one or two remaining subsea cables.
Over the last eight years, hyperscale companies, particularly Meta and Google, have shifted from buying bandwidth to funding and owning their own subsea cables.
A Chinese-flagged freighter recently cut internet connectivity to four NATO countries by dragging its anchor across subsea cables after switching off its ship locator.
Military war games simulating a Chinese siege of Taiwan typically begin with China cutting Taiwan's subsea cables to isolate the island.
Global data synchronization for services like TikTok, YouTube, Microsoft Office, and Google Docs relies on subsea cable infrastructure.
The cable repair industry perceives that hyperscalers like Google and Meta are prioritizing building redundant cable networks over investing in faster repair capabilities.
Subsea cables near Vietnam are frequently cut due to shallow waters and heavy fishing activity, with repairs sometimes taking months because repair ships are occupied elsewhere.
A volcanic eruption a few years ago severed the single subsea cable connecting Tonga to the internet, leaving the country completely offline.
Submarine landslides in the Congo River Delta periodically sever subsea cables, causing internet outages for entire regions in Africa.
A large number of subsea cables connecting the United States to the global internet land in a few concentrated areas, including New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oregon.