Elisabeth Braw, a Swedish security expert, has detailed the vulnerability of global undersea infrastructure in her new book, "The Undersea War". The book describes the extensive network of gas and oil pipes, and electricity, telegraph, and fibreoptic cables that underpin the modern economy, carrying 95-99% of global internet traffic and $10tn (£7.75tn) in financial transactions daily.
Braw highlights incidents such as the alleged damage to five undersea cables near Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day 2024. A Cook Islands-registered tanker, the Eagle S, reportedly sailed over and struck the cables, nearly disrupting internet provision and coming close to a major electricity cable and the Balticconnector gas pipeline.
Braw, a government adviser and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, suggests that such incidents are difficult to prove as intentional sabotage. She notes that parliamentarians at a House of Commons Defence Committee inquiry were "taken aback by the realisation that it’s very hard to protect undersea infrastructure."
The expert also points to a shift in the ownership of these critical pathways, with major tech companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon planning to lay approximately 60 of their own cables, including Meta's 50,000km Waterworth cable.