Shark injustice when broken fiber optic cable

As the most important infrastructure for connecting to the global network, the undersea cables are susceptible to faults and disruptions, but most of them are broken by human impact.

In July 1858, the two ships met in the middle of the Atlantic. Each ship carries a marine cable only 1.5 cm thick. The two cables were welded together in the middle of the ocean, completing the first 4,000 km long sea cable linking Europe and North America.

The first telegraph cable link between Europe and North America was completed in 1858. (Photo: CNN).

This cable transmitted the first email from Queen Victoria of England to US President James Buchanan. These messages took up to 17 hours to transmit between the two countries via Morse code. The cable then only lasted about a month.

The hidden infrastructure of the Internet world

Today there are about 380 submarine cable routes running around the world, with a total length of up to 1.2 million km.Marine optical cables are almost invisible to the human eye, but they are the most important infrastructure in the Internet world. In recent years, technology giants such as Facebook, Google or Amazon have also invested in building and operating many sea cables.

Although the world is increasingly transforming and wireless connections are more diverse, most of the data circulating on the network is still passing through fiber optic lines. If you say the numbers, everyone will be overwhelmed by the amount of data going through the sea cable.

Diagram of cable connections between the US and Europe through the Atlantic.(Photo: TeleGeography).

"People are always looking for Wi-Fi and mobile connections. They don't think about sea cables, don't know how a bunch of interconnected cables work. They just realize the importance. when the cable breaks, " Byron Clatterbuck, CEO of Seacom cable operating company.

Each fiber optic line has the cost of finishing and installing millions of USD. The cable installation process takes several years. The first task is to find the best route, going through the deep and flat ocean shelves, the less complicated terrain.

The cables are usually thinner in the middle section, running through the ocean floor, because at the bottom of the deep sea they are quite safe and less damaged. The closer it gets to the shore, the thicker the cable has to be and the more protective it is. In high-risk areas, each cable is sometimes as thick as a water pipe, most of which is made of plastic or steel.

Inside fiber optic cable, the signal is transmitted through very thin glass fibers.However, the cable will be reinforced and protected with multiple layers of materials to ensure safety.(Photo: Wired).

At the point of landing, many companies also have to build long concrete pipes and put them under the sea to insulate cables, ensuring they are safe from waves and rocks under the sea.

An undersea cable can be thousands of kilometers long, with a total weight of thousands of tons. The Marea cable line, a project of 6,600 km between Microsoft and Facebook, weighs 4,600 tons and takes 1 month to put on board the installation. The "laying" cables in the ocean and the complete connection took more than 2 years.

Is the right cable broken by a shark?

Fiber optic lines can be broken or interrupted for many reasons. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the United States, affecting many fiber optic stations on the coast. This is where cable links between North America and Europe land.

"The entire network between North America and Europe was interrupted for several hours," said Frank Rey, director of Microsoft's network strategy.

"Twice a week, there is a cable line in the world that goes wrong," said Tim Stronge, vice president of telecoms research company TeleGeography.

"We have seen shark bite cable bites. After that, we had to add more steel pipes to protect the cable," added Guillaume Le Saux, captain of the sea-going cable repair ship Pierre de Fermat.

A cable line can take up to a month to put on board the installation.(Photo: Mark Majlan).

However, most incidents with marine cables are caused by human impact.

"Up to two-thirds of cable failures are due to accidents from human activities, such as fishing or anchoring of ships. Ranked second are natural causes like earthquakes or ocean floor fluctuations. " , said Stronge.

In the past, there have been a number of cases of damaged sea cables suspected of being targeted attacks. However, experts say the sea cable attack is not as effective as some other forms of attack.

"If you want to interrupt the Internet, you will have to attack on multiple cables at once. This is the hardest way to do it," Mr. Byron Clatterbuck said.

Damaged fiber optic cable was pulled on board for replacement.(Photo: Wired).

Telecommunications industry always has a backup plan. If an undersea cable is interrupted, a telecommunications company will divert traffic to another route to reduce damage to customers.

To repair the fiber optic cable, the operating company must locate the fault. This job is quite simple, because they can locate quite accurately by pulse signal and response time. The repair ship will then go to the location of the broken cable, lift the cable, cut off the broken section and connect by welding a new cable into the broken section.

Depending on the location and fault condition, cable repair may take days or months.

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