This story is, for the moment, qualified as an incident but it seems difficult to believe in a coincidence. In the last few hours, at least three underwater optical fibers have been cut in the Mediterranean Sea. The immediate consequence was a deep disruption of the internet links Marseille-Lyon, Marseille-Milan and Marseille-Barcelona. But beyond the local impact, the episode affected the stability of the Internet connection worldwide. In fact, Internet access was slower for users in Europe, Asia and the United States. The average user like you and me did not normally lose their connection. However, there was a sharp increase in latency.
Internet access future military issue?
In just a few hours, the incident was resolved and the 3 cables were repaired. For the moment, information on this subject is relatively rare, but these types of incidents, which are by nature rare (the cables are at great depths), have multiplied recently. Indeed, almost simultaneously to the first incidents located in France, on the English side, a fiber linking the Shetland Islands to Scotland was also damaged. A week earlier, the cable linking the Faroe Islands to Shetland was cut… Given the international situation, many eyes are turning to Russia, which could thus engage in sabotage with its submarines… But as with the gas pipeline affair, if Russia appears in the eyes of the West as the designated culprit, no evidence supports these accusations at this time.
