Cross-Sector Impacts of Subsea Cable Disruptions on Critical Infrastructure

Multi-ISAC white paper: Health-ISAC, Aviation-ISAC, and E-ISAC

Health-ISAC, Space-ISAC, and E-ISAC conducted a joint analysis into the business resiliency risk posed by subsea cable sabotage. This collaborative effort examined the potential cross-sector impacts to critical infrastructure in the event of a major subsea cable outage. Subsea cables facilitate the flow of information and electricity across the globe, making them a valuable resource for the global industry. Subsea cable sabotage activity off the coast of Finland and Taiwan is likely indicative of increasing risk to these structures as geopolitical adversaries adopt hybrid warfare strategies that emphasize gray zone tactics.

Key Judgements:

• Subsea cables play a key role in modern interconnectivity, but also
  represent a vast unmonitored attack surface for threat actors seeking to
  cause disruptions.

• Deliberate attacking of subsea cables to cause disruptions has been
  observed in hybrid warfare campaigns.

• Damage to subsea cables can result in power and telecommunication
  outages for critical infrastructure organizations.

• Subsea cable disruptions that do not directly affect critical
  infrastructure owners may impact critical third parties, resulting in
  sudden supply chain delays.

• Scenario-based risk planning exercises, also known as table-top
  exercises (TTXs), can be an effective way to develop and stress-test
  business resilience plans in the event of a sudden utility outage.

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