The European Commission has announced a new plan to beef up undersea cables following a spate or incidents, some classed as accidents, others suspected to be hybrid attacks by Russia.
Undersea cables carry 99 percent of European inter-continental internet traffic, according to the EU. There are also vitally import electricity interconnectors and pipelines.
On the edge of Europe, and with a large high-tech sector, Ireland is seen as vulnerable to these types of attack.
The European Commission is proposing to spend €540 million on “enhanced resilience” to fibre cables. €3 billion is being spent on protecting electricity cables.
Around 60 percent of cables are operated by private companies so the EU wants to encourage public-private partnerships, including swift reporting of suspicious activities and suspected attacks.
“Innovative technology will allow us to improve our intelligence gathering”, the EU’s Defence Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, announced this morning on a visit to Helsinki.
Using drones, both under water, on the sea and air based, will be used to “track, trace and monitor vessels of interest to detect suspicious activity”, he added.
It comes as Swedish police announced that they are investigating a suspected cable breaks in the Baltic Sea within the Swedish economic zone.
The police have now launched an investigation into “suspected sabotage”.
The European Commission says in the medium term it will look into setting up a “cable vessel reserve”, ships which could be strategically positioned across Europe on standby to swiftly react and repair cable breaks.
The EU will also stockpile spare parts.
After a number of attacks or accidents in the Baltic Sea, including the one being investigated by Sweden today, the European Commission said that its first “Integrated Surveillance Mechanism” will be set up there. It will bring together all the intelligence information gathered by the EU and member states.
The European Commission would like to see the system rolled out to other seas around Europe including the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea.