Red Sea Crisis: Rising threat to undersea cables has serious security implications

The Houthi threat to undersea cables in the Red Sea has posed a critical challenge to India, which faces a surging communications load on the cables in the coming years.

Vivek Y Kelkar
March 05, 2024 / 11:09 AM IST
Red Sea Crisis: Rising threat to undersea cables has serious security implications

A Globes report indicated that cables from the companies AAE-1, Seacom, EIG and TGN had been damaged by the Houthis in the Red Sea.

Highlights: Undersea cables in the Red Sea carry 17 percent of global communications. Damage to undersea cables poses a serious security risk for countries depending on them Repairing cables is complicated and entails high risk Control over the cable is vital to national security, not just normal commercial communications, but also crucial intelligence flow. India needs to fortify its undersea cable management even as it faces a surging usage of data   Over the past three months, there have been concerns over shipping routes in the...