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Russia a 'risk' to undersea cables, defence chief warns
The UK's most senior military officer has warned of a new threat posed by Russia to communications and internet cables that run under the sea. Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, the chief of the defence staff, said Britain and Nato needed to prioritise protecting the lines of communication. He said it would be an "immediately and potentially catastrophic" hit to the economy if they were cut or disrupted.
The cables criss-cross the seabed, connecting up countries and continents. [...] Speaking to the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, Sir Stuart said the vulnerability of undersea lines posed a "new risk to our way of life".
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Saturday December 16 2017, @09:11AM (7 children)
Probably because we are observing sufficient intelligence interest begin shown by Russia at levels last seen during the Cold War e.g 'diplomats' carrying out intelligence collection activities, illegals being discovered in our countries - just because we don't arrest them doesn't mean they haven't been identified - and our own nationals being subjected to intense intelligence interest when they visit Russia or countries that are aligned with it.
Now tie that in with the increase in Russian military interest around the the coasts of the UK, both naval and air, and then look at what has happened in the Ukraine or is being threatened to the Baltic states, and how Russian hackers might be trying to influence elections in several countries, and you can see why someone might believe that we have gone back to the 1970-80s again.
Russia is now building up its forces and using them to extend its influence in various regions around Europe and the Middle East. You might think the UK and US are acting as though they need an enemy, but having found one that is acting very much like it is trying to become a dominant world power suggests that prudent steps should be taken to protect oneself against it.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 16 2017, @10:21AM (6 children)
Read about all that in the highly reliable and objective mass media did you?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday December 16 2017, @01:27PM (2 children)
Oh look, a contrarian puke with upmods aplenty.
Putin the dictator is running for his fourth six-year presidential term. I wonder if he'll win?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 16 2017, @03:20PM (1 child)
As a wildly idealistic USian plebian living in the USA, allow me to explain within this post, and with the utmost maximum extent I can muster to you, EXACTLY how much I care about the politics in some other authoritarian train wreck of a country that isn't the one I'm living in.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday December 16 2017, @03:43PM
Great. You can continue to hold no opinion. And if a Russian or Chinese hack affects you or a major Internet cable gets cut, you'll be fine because it's somebody else's business. And certainly nothing these countries do will have an effect on your economic well being.
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(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Saturday December 16 2017, @02:37PM (2 children)
No - it was my job until retirement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 18 2017, @12:08AM (1 child)
That's actually not any better than the mass media. Remember Iraq's WMDs, as reported by the US intelligence agencies?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday December 18 2017, @05:41PM
Do you remember some of the rubbish spouted by ACs? But we don't judge all ACs by the few that are idiots.