Russian submarines are prowling around vital undersea cables. Its making NATO nervous.

[MelissaB]

Russian submarines are prowling around vital undersea cables. It’s making NATO nervous.

BRUSSELS — Russian submarines have dramatically stepped up activity around undersea data cables in the North Atlantic, part of a more aggressive naval posture that has driven NATO to revive a Cold War-era command, according to senior military officials.

The apparent Russian focus on the cables, which provide Internet and other communications connections to North America and Europe, could give the Kremlin the power to sever or tap into vital data lines, the officials said. Russian submarine activity has increased to levels unseen since the Cold War, they said, sparking hunts in recent months for the elusive watercraft.

"We are now seeing Russian underwater activity in the vicinity of undersea cables that I don't believe we have ever seen," said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lennon, the commander of NATO's submarine forces. "Russia is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations' undersea infrastructure."

NATO has responded with plans to reestablish a command post, shuttered after the Cold War, to help secure the North Atlantic. NATO allies are also rushing to boost anti-submarine warfare capabilities and to develop advanced submarine- ­detecting planes.

More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-submarines-are-prowling-around-vital-undersea-cables-it%e2%80%99s-making-nato-nervous/ar-BBHaCLC?ocid=News

[MelissaB]

1. One more:

Britain's top military commander also warned that Russia could imperil the cables that form the backbone of the modern global economy. The privately owned lines, laid along the some of the same corridors as the first transatlantic telegraph wire in 1858, carry nearly all of the communications on the Internet, facilitating trillions of dollars of daily trade. If severed, they could snarl the Web. If tapped, they could give Russia a valuable picture of the tide of the world's Internet traffic.

[Xipe Totec]

2. The Undersea Cables that Power the Internet

[JayhawkSD]

3. During the cold war we tapped Russian underwater telephone cables.

Using submarines, we tapped underwater telephone cables in Russian territorial waters for some years. These were diesel submarines operating in pairs, so that if one submarine was detected while they had divers out the other submarine could deliberately make noise and draw the Russians off. Hopefully without getting sunk in the process.

But of course we are going to be outraged if their submarines show signs of any interest in our underwater cables.

We used to argue whether these missions, off the north coast of Russia, were better in summer when the weather was slightly better and the water temp was a couple degrees above freezing but we were subjected to 24 hours of daylight, or in winter when the weather made hurricaines look like breezes and the water temp was several degrees below freezing but we had darkness to hide in for 24 hours per day. (Diesel subs spend more time on the surface than they do submerged.)

One boat was lost on such a mission, but her crew was taken off before she went down. I wasn't along on that trip.

[MelissaB]

4. Posted here as well

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210017640

[TexasProgresive]

5. Here's a good article on the subject of F.O. cable tapping from 2013

The tech has probably improved, but I think for anything to work the fibers must be exposed. In the other thread someone said that wasn't necessary. Anyway we've been doing it for years and so have the Soviets/Russians and just about everyone else.

I never understood why classified material on Sec Clinton's private server was an issue. Classified material should never go out on the internet-PERIOD. Loose lips sink ships is still a truism. So even if the private server had classified data the sender is culpable.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/

The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping
The newest NSA leaks reveal that governments are probing "the Internet's backbone." How does that work?
By Olga Khazan Jul 16, 2013

In the early 1970's, the U.S. government learned that an undersea cable ran parallel to the Kuril Islands off the eastern coast of Russia, providing a vital communications link between two major Soviet naval bases. The problem? The Soviet Navy had completely blocked foreign ships from entering the region.

Not to be deterred, the National Security Agency launched Operation Ivy Bells, deploying fast-attack submarines and combat divers to drop waterproof recording pods on the lines. Every few weeks, the divers would return to gather the tapes and deliver them to the NSA, which would then binge-listen to their juicy disclosures.

The project ended in 1981, when NSA employee Ronald Pelton sold information about the program to the KGB for $35,000. He's still serving his life prison term.

The operation might have ended, but for the NSA, this underwater strategy clearly stuck around.

[underpants]

6. From June - Russian agents in odd places, near fiber optic cables

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003

The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One was found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official, another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert. Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic cables tend to run.


According to another U.S. intelligence official, “They find these guys driving around in circles in Kansas. It’s a pretty aggressive effort.”

It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude that the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to disrupt it.

“Half the time, they’re never confronted,” the official, who declined to be identified discussing intelligence matters, said of the incidents. “We assume they’re mapping our infrastructure.”

[2naSalit]

7. Aomething

big and unpleasant is lurking out there. I wonder if this is that big "something" that was relayed to those congresscritters who now prostate themselves before the orange one.

[roamer65]

8. The US military uses geosynchronous satellites and other satellites.

NATO and the US military communicate over those birds.

The Russians goals are potential economic disruption in this case, should they decide to mess with the cables.