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An intricate network of undersea cables helps connect the world.\u00a0iStock<\/p>\n
Severe weather, boating accidents, earthquakes and the occasional shark bite are common risks facing the network around Australia\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n
But the governments of Australia, the US and UK are worried about a growing risk of Russian and Chinese sabotage of undersea cables<\/a>. They are also concerned that Iran may seek to exploit the data networks running through the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n Speaking at a summit in Singapore, Defence Minister Richard Marles said the \u00a0\u201cseabed is a battlefield\u201d\u00a0as he and his American and British counterparts unveiled steps to protect the vital cabling.<\/p>\n Marles also highlighted how\u00a099 per cent of the country\u2019s internet traffic flowed through 15 seabed pipes, which land on the coast at just a few sites in Sydney and Perth.<\/p>\n Josh Cole, a partner with international law firm Baker Botts and an expert on Asia-Pacific infrastructure, said this made Australia especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia is especially vulnerable to sabotage of its undersea digital cables.\u00a0AP Photo\/Achmad Ibrahim<\/p>\n He said internet services that rely on international connectivity \u2013 including cloud hosting services hosted offshore, artificial intelligence and voice and data \u2013 were especially at risk.<\/p>\n Sites that would be impacted by any major damage to Australia\u2019s undersea cable network include defence and technology installations, such as the HMAS Sterling Naval Base in Western Australia<\/a> and Google\u2019s planned AI data centre on Christmas Island. <\/p>\n Cole said there were existing legal safeguards in place to protect Australia\u2019s submarine cables.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia has a cable protection zone regime which provides a level of protection for subsea cables that does not exist in many countries.\u00a0 Those zones stretch 40 nautical miles offshore into deep water, where it is more difficult to damage subsea cables. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are risks in international waters which are beyond the jurisdictional reach of states, but cable operators seek to minimise those risks by avoiding laying cables in shallow waters [where there is a higher risk of damage, whether accidental or deliberate] wherever possible. \u201d<\/p>\n China has been suspected of cutting undersea communications cable in waters off Taiwan.\u00a0Associated Press<\/p>\n But the AUKUS countries say the growing potential for sabotage means militaries should be involved in protecting them.<\/p>\n Marles said undersea internet cables \u2013 \u201cthe arteries of modern civilisation\u201d \u2013 were being cut at an unprecedented rate.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past 18 months, we have witnessed a series of attacks against subsea critical infrastructure at a scale and frequency that is historically unprecedented,\u201d he said in Singapore.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f5a5c17d403446ef00bd084b56e80a7f85f0b1e0.jpeg\")
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