More than $10 trillion worth of financial transactions are transmitted via #submarine #cables every single day. Now, #China and #America are looking to wrest subsea control and set the power parity for the 21st century.
Please drop that repetitive drone sound that flares up every 10-15 seconds, its incredibly distracting! Your videos were so much more enjoyable before that sound invaded the videos!
There are literal battles over those cables. Our government needs to be ashamed of itself. They court-martialed a navy captain rather than admit a Chinese war ship attacked his ship GUARDING an undersea cable and fooled us using a rigged required ship ID to look like a tanker. Our navy vessel was idled using an EMP weapon (the captain is supposed to have psychic powers and know that is about to happen??) and was boarded. Sailors were shot and they blamed the captain? No warning from our satellites, Intel, CIA, or Air Force fly overs but its his fault?
As someone working in CTI, they actually aren't or at least 98% of them aren't. Here is why : - the way the internet works is by splitting info into small packets and sending them to servers that will rebuild those packets. It's already hard to get all the packets and even with all the information packets get lost often (to the point we had to instantiate a way to know what's missing so that it gets resent). - each packet will take the shortest route based on a huge amount of factors not just distance. They are also encrypted with very strong protocols. - Now imagine the cable, flooding with billions of terabytes of encrypted data. If you try to spy one well you will not get anything relevant. Most of the data will not be complete (it will go through different cables) and encrypted. After spending the 2000 years it will take just to sort 1TB of it you now need to analyse all of this data, contextualise it etc.. - only military-exclusive cable could be under actual spying as the information will be concentrated on one cable and in way lower quantities. And all of it is actual sensitive info, not just a random TikTok comment. - cutting cable only works on remote and badly served areas such as very small islands fun fact, even if you cut all sea cables, you will just create 2 internet networks: - Eurasia + Africa - America The fight for cables is mostly to have the tech giant (no matter the country) have complete control over their traffic, leading to less geopolitical pressure from foreign states. Now if you have an interest in cybersecurity, and more specifically over the "internet under the hood", here are a few attacks that are way more plausible : - just attack the actual target, no country on the planet can defend itself from a state attack. Strong cyber countries have low infrastructure attacks due to their response capability, not their defence (similar to nuclear power). For spying, between allies, countries spy and disrupt foreign companies to gain some market access, advantage etc. So just imagine between less friendly states. But it's quoted as the norm, attacks are way more disguised for obvious political reasons and smaller in scale and strength for economic reasons (no one will spend 2b$ to gain a 200 project) therefore you can usually defend against those. - if you are in a very disruptive state under very heavy succession and have a strong cybersecurity team (i.e. DPRK) just hard attack the 13 DNS root servers. You will cut internet everywhere on the planet and it will be way harder to rebuild than just replacing a cable. The crisis resulting from this action will be extremely devastating which is why : - they are the most protected area on the planet both physically and informatically - Backups and "unofficial" root DNS servers are here just to palliate this potential attack. - no country will benefit from it, just like a full nuclear war so no one really attacks resulting in a higher ability to defend it when someone actually attacks it In the end, to gain geopolitical power on the international stage you don't need to tell the truth, just to have people believing it. While spy activity on those cables is very unlikely, saying that they are is as much important
@@JoyPeace-ej2uv Really...?! When did that happened ? If that's true... Then congratulations to the Chinese for protecting themselves against the Hegemon .
It's basically a new to know basis since it is a security point. U only know what 7 need to know to do ur job. This way if anything happens like a breach they can track down the people wit the knowledge of this incident and then just go door to door. This is why virology have everyone in a list so if something happens they can just look up the list and go door to door until they get the guy . Same for any corporation and military
Are you talking about america or china? both are doing both lol. (not unique to america or china though, canada, UK, australia are all trying to pass laws that limit/ban encryption, and general removal of privacy. Likely more countries beyond this that I'm not knowledge about are guilty as well)
@@axmoylotl I expect China to, I don't expect western countries with constitutions to.
Рік тому+427
Undersea cables are single-mode, so tapping is very difficult and if possible then it will draw energy, that could be detected by OTDR measurements. Most modern transceivers have built-in OTDR that automatically identify of breaks or taps in the cable. It will also tell the exact location, too.
I f China installs it then it already is tapped and why Australia is making sure they can not connect to their lines. that is fair. China should stay in it's own area .
There's lots and lots more on waveform propagation of that a freshman physics major could explain to you that defeats your theory. Cables do NOT have to be pierced in any way whatsoever. Even fiber optics 'leak' electromagnetic and light emissions. Very, VERY little....but they leak. Something sensitive enough would have no trouble detecting and quantifying it. The lines are presently tapped all the time....under the ocean.Exactly where is never known. This is a fact. Just because YOU don't think it could happen undetected does not mean it cannot be done.
Please keep doing what you're doing in the format that you are doing it. Your non-biased informational videos are a breath of fresh air in a world where news push their own agenda paid by someone else. Thank you.
@@user-ik6gl8ks6o It just seems that way to you because you have been exposed to one-sided depictions for so long, they have become the norm for you, and you have begun to think of them as the standard of neutrality. Once you learn how to research both sides of different topics, it becomes easier to appreciate just how objective people like Shirvan are.
It's a well known quote, often misquoted to Otto Von Bismark. The original is from as far back as 1869: "“Laws,” says that illustrious rhymer, Mr. John Godfrey Saxe, “like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made." - The Daily Cleveland Herald, March 29, 1869
I've taken part in making homemade sausages. I don't get why would anyone not want to see them being made, unless they're disgusted by raw meat or spices.
China has just launched the fastest Internet in the world. 10x faster than the US connection speeds. Can download 150 4k movies in 1 second (1.2 TB a sec).
Fiber optic cables are extremely hard to detect if you don't already know where to look. And, it is so dirt cheap to produce, I wouldn't be surprised if there are multiple completely unused, unpublished cables branches already laid in place in the event of sabotage
I also wouldn't be surprised if these cables are used by state and non-state actors to skim data. I'm unfamiliar with the mechanics of these cables, but I imagine it is possible to redirect traffic through unknown cables without detection.
@@CakePrincessCelestia copper landlines were already in place for decades to support cable television, the telephone network, etc. It’s easy, then, to just utilize this infrastructure that already exists and connect digital modems to the ends of these copper lines (like a cable modem). All new, modern data landlines being laid now, though, are fiber optic.
@CakePrincessCelestia the cables themselves are fairly cheap nowadays (submarine cables are a bit of a different story though), it's the labor to put it in the ground or on the poles that costs you. We use copper for landlines in areas where those cables are already in the ground; basically anything new build, we're running fiber.
@@humboldthammer You should stop internetting until you can avoid bringing religion into a totally nonreligious conversation. Comment reported as spam.
@@guydreamr Thanks, KAREN. Here is a FACT: THEY BELIEVE. That is a fact that YOU should not ignore. Was Trump Chosen by God? ALL the Prophets on mainstream Christian TV proclaimed Trump CHOSEN BY GOD to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Are Israeli's God's Chosen people? The WAR is God vs God (IS I vs I AM). What is Spam? I seek no followers, sell no books or DVD's. Why are you pretending not to see?
There is a concern that the construction of a desalination plant in Fortaleza could potentially disrupt internet connectivity in Brazil. The plant is being built near submarine internet cables that connect Brazil to Europe. Experts suggest that unforeseen incidents during construction or changes in the ocean floor could potentially damage these cables, affecting internet functionality.
That is interesting. I'm Brazilian and didn't know that. I know a good deal about fiber optic cables but nothing about desalination plant impacts. My half layman opinion is that it seems unlikely to be a problem unless they are building literally on the same place, like few dozen meters separation.
@@raifsevrence Check you medication bottles labels, all are made by African nations in India and their incredible technologies for 5000 years. Take a trip there and see yourself, the extreme beauty of everything there and 5000 years old technologies there will shock you.
Your videos as always are amazing and even getting more amazing as time goes by. Thank you as always for all the hard work you do my friend. Keep this channel going because you are so amazing as a newscaster. It’s not just the way you speak, and the words you use, but it’s your overall personality. You are very calm in the face of dark news. You also have a very emotional personality that people can feel through your videos. Great job as always. I always come back to this channel when I see a new video or if I even want to get information again on past events.
Great overview! It also shows the level of entrenchment of big tech. They're in fact, the toll booths of the modern economy. Also, it is important to note how these cables grow in importance over time as companies adjust their processes to the new connections. Any issues we face now will become more politically laden as the economy shifts to the cloud.
If would be better if small companies form LECs could get a share of the cake, perhaps countries like Nigeria should organise cables instead of USA and China
the usg plans to use "elon musk" to put satellites into action, severe the undersea cables and take control of the internet with pay per access. i cant believe you dont all see this coming. "Elon" is really just the govt privatizing its duties.
@@nathanielbugg7355 Apple isn't even a player in this arena. Regardless, please explain why 'American' (why the quotes btw?) like Alphabet, Microsoft, etc. who .. alongside the government of the USA, are almost entirely responsible for the internet as we know it today (for good or ill) shouldn't maintain any control of the infrastructure and technology that they have created, built, and shared with the world .. and why any of them shouldn't be allowed to charge a "toll" to access it? And why shouldn't the USA express concerns or control over the security of the data in the cables that it has laid .. connected to major backbones of the internet that it has created, and which a tremendous portion of global internet traffic relies upon?
@@THE-X-Force man, that all really sucks. everything you just said. American exceptionalism in a nutshell. the kool-aid has been drunk hard. from the rest of the world, "Go fuck yourself!"
China is proving that expertise no matter what kind is important for national security and prosperity. USA should honestly snap out of it and return to national self reliance.
This information is really important to understand, it is more relevant currently than ever before. This framework factors into so many narratives in global affairs and motives behind the scenes.
This has been an eye-opening video, all the intrigue and geopolitical machinations tied up with these cables. Was watching and wondering how all this had missed Diego Garcia and there it came.😄
US ensures its exclusive spying capability. Afterall, Snowdon detailed US's spying connectors to these cables, but US had never disclosed the Huawei "backdoor".
And Huawei have ASKED for the US to publish this so called backdoor... No response. The US called the weather balloon a spy balloon... China said it's not the US shot it down... Then quietly the US military admitted it had no surveillance capability despite dragging China's name through the mud. The British recently accused the Chinese of spying on Parliament via a junior British employee... The guy was arrested and china blamed all over British media... Even the head of intelligence of the UK went on the news (which never happens) denouncing Chinese interference in British democracy... The young man has since had all charges dropped and no connection to china or wrongdoing was found yet NONE of that made it to headline news and no apology to china
Thanks for this comprehensive overview. It opened my eyes to the importance of the undersea cables and the geopolitical implications of who lays, repairs and controls them. Also, I had no idea that satellites handle so little of the internet traffic. Interesting revelation.
Hello Shervan, I personally am the integrated circuit layout designer who drafted the laser diode control chips inside that refresh module. You're welcome.
I worked on installing and deploying optical fiber systems for decades in both telecom and CATV networks. Any competent technician will tell you it is incredibly easy to compromise optical fiber systems as all one needs is a physical access point to the cables optical fibers. Literally any splice point, where cables ends are joined, is a perfect access point...but creating an opening in the cable anywhere along its length really isn't hard to do with a little cable slack. There is no need to cut into the optical fiber itself since a simple "bender" device placed on a loop of an individual fiber will allow complete access to all data being carried. Imagine twirling a piece of hair around your finger...pretty much the same idea. These access points can be detected with the right equipment and training but you would have to have a reason to look to even know it was happening. If data is not heavily encrypted at the point of origin it is not secure. Period.
You can't bend an armored undersea cable. You have to cut into it, if not into the fibers. And then you have to transmit the data to an analysis center somewhere, so you need another cable or in-place packet inspection to filter interesting traffic. But repeaters are not made to host significant computing capability. Basically, it is not simple to tap into a submarine cable. So realistically you need access to the endpoints where the cable goes on land to intercept the data. I agree that strong encryption is critical. But 90% of web traffic today is encrypted (though the configs are not always secure), and the percentage is probably close to 100% for truly sensitive data like banking. Yet intelligence agencies can still harvest important metadata. And in case of an all-out cyber war, a country can selectively block traffic on infrastructure they control, and try to destroy infrastructure they don't. I do not think such an all-out war is likely.
Microsoft has started producing waveguide fibre cables. Light travels much slower through a medium like glass, but because the waveguides are hollow, there’s probably going to be a new boom of undersea cables avoid the world. 40-47% faster communication in *latency * rather than bandwidth, will edge out in trading, gaming, defence and all sorts of realtime edge and IoT applications. This was one of the motivations for StarLink due to the low latency of communications through the vacuum of space. Don’t know how this will affect the geopolitics of undersea cables.
Optical waveguides are less efficient than fibre optics and only used for short range or very high power applications. They are also much more fragile than fibre oprics. An undersea cable would be the worst possible application for an optical waveguide.
@@ArmySigs hollow core fibres with comparable attenuation to silica fibres had already been tested and described in 2020. There are articles as of this year explaining that early examples had higher attenuation but are now either comparable or lower. In any case the fact that it could theoretically be done was established over 20 years ago. Since repeaters are already used anyway, that wouldn’t be any different and a cable with somewhat higher losses could already be justified in some long distance use cases given hollow core can support far wider bands than silica which is how they’ve just broken the record again for bandwidth. Combining that capacity with cutting eg. 30ms across the Pacific Ocean would be a game changer even for just a few cables.
@@Freshbott2 Latency is an issue for applications where a few milliseconds across a span of thousands of miles is critical. But, back around 2005, I worked for a company which had a branch 'way down under'. I was amazed at how natural our phone conversations were (U.S - Australia). We spoke as naturally as though we were in the same city. In quickly responding to statements or questions, we never stepped over each other's transmissions. We were unaware of latency and made no preparatory accommodation for it. For that to occur, the one way latency is likely no more than 10 milliseconds (close to the speed of light, and faster than light were satellites to be used instead)
@@gregparrott I don’t disagree that it’s incredible but a connection from Sydney to San Jose for example by nature can’t be any less than about 100ms if I’ve done my maths right. This is consistent with a ping from the west coast to San Jose, which is about 260-300ms. A ping between Perth and Sydney is about 60-70. I’ve had an interview between WA and Vancouver that was fine enough for a conversation. Aussie gamers know the frustration of being booted from servers due to latency, and any case where language isn’t important Aussies will often use Asian servers and where latency isn’t important use North American servers. In any case, online games are often unplayable or unenjoyable if not on an Australian server for people in Perth and it’s sometimes the case in Melbourne. Latency is a big problem to solve that till now has been a fundamental physics one! Even if all the undersea sables were hollow core, there’d still be some losses in the hops.
@@Freshbott2 I looked up the latency for fiber. One source said ~5 microseconds (uS) per kilometer (km). That's a lot more than I assumed. The speed of light's latency is 3.33 uS per km. The distance from California to Australia is listed at 8,128 miles (13081 km). Using these numbers, you're right. It comes to just a hair over 100ms. I wondered how the latency appeared to be minimal. One person mentioned that that the telecom companies prioritize low latency, over bandwidth. The bandwidth for speech over the phone is only something like a meager 48 kbits. Around 18 years ago, telecommunications may have been on dedicated (low latency?) lines instead of being on the internet, as they are now. I don't know, but it sure seemed less than 0.2 seconds before I received (for example) a simple yes/no response to a question.
So what I'm hearing is everyone is annoyed at the other country laying cables that are probably tapped so they want to force the contracts into their own countries so they could be the ones to tap those cables... Great...
Reading the comments, I'm always surprised how many people don't know about submarine cables. There is a lack of information on this subject. Thank you for your good work.
@14:42 It's worth pointing out that HMN's bid was considered suspicious by industry analysts: firstly because the Chinese government was believed to be subsidising the company furtively in order to interfere on its behalf and secondly because it was the tender equivalent of export "dumping", where companies deliberately undercharge for work or goods in order to charge higher prices later, once they have control over the parts or equipment used to keep it running. So it wasn't such n attractive bid as you might think.
All country subsidise some. Industries. All normal and to be expected. China has a mix economy with important industries are state owned, some less important industries are privately owned. This worked really well for the country and has improved China spectacularly. This model worked so well that it lifted 800 millions Chinese out of poverty while China is now second largest economy in the world. Of course China will continue this development path. Western country, USA in particular is bought and ran by private companies. USA economy steadily declined since 1971. The economy suffered. The average Americans suffered. USA government granted a lot of subsidy to various industries. USA government also work closely with various industries behind closed doors anyway. China focused on taking care of its own citizens. That is why it has developed so well. American government only cares about itself, it drains the blood out of the economy so it may gain. And even that wasn't enough to satisfy it.
@@misterhill5598 Not another troll! You spread disinformation on this subject-only a few countries subsidise their major industries - mostly poor and inefficient ones in fact. Most countries do use customs duties to favour industries - very different and IRRELEVANT to HMN's bid. Also the US economy has not declined since 1971; that's Chinese government propaganda that it uses to misinform its citizens and ignorant people/BOTS like you. China is a dictatorship where all citizens are carefully monitored by the communists in charge and people's lives are managed. It's just a huge open prison; except for some minorities like the Uighurs, who live in real prisons! LOL
Watching a serious, no-nonsense overview of the geopolitics of submarine cables, and then "Laws are like sausages: it's better not to see them being made" suddenly strolls in and derails my whole frame of mind. I literally had to pause and recover for a minute.
Thank you for proving my point that we don’t use satellites for communication purposes. It’s all under sea cables and buried land cables that run from tower to tower.
Future Zoom calls with Asia will never be the same now I know my video is physically passing through the EU, depart the continent in Marseille then race through the Suez canal, the red sea, gulf of aden, Arabian sea, Indian Ocean, Malacca strait, to end up in Singapore and vice versa... in milliseconds.
Never before now -- not in the entire history of humanity -- have so many educated people lived so freely and so abundantly. And for just 17+ years, since Google bought UA-cam, we have been connected to a Shared, Worldwide Experience with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake "THIS" Generation Up.
@humboldthammer well...unfortunately it's not guaranteed. Those who have the intellectual ability to filter fact from fiction and truth from lies definitely benefit from the information exchange. However it makes it all that much easier to confuse the narrative and disseminate false narratives to confuse the public of the world at large. Foreign intergenerational services could only have dreamt in years past about access to foreign populations like that which exist today through the internet. Like any other development, it's a double edged sword. That being said I think we are far better off with it than without it and we will grow with it.
@@humboldthammerPropaganda and misinformation is more common now, but thankfully the tools to fight back are widely available for those who wish. Those who like to not think for themselves and not investigate are more easily bamboozled than ever before. The first thing we must ask ourselves, are we wrong? Are our preconceptions and views wrong and are they based in reality. We must all ask ourselves that.
@@MasterGhostf Don't forget government spying and snooping on it's own citizens. That comes along with the propaganda and misinformation...and the government is often behind propaganda and misinformation.
@@MasterGhostf Everything I write is true, by my intent, before I post, because the STRENGTH of any UA-cam comment is directly proportional to the TRUTH it contains. There will be an Epochal Eclipse a CROSS North America on April 8th 2024, when MORE shall be revealed to those with "eyes and ears." The rest will see only an eclipse. Don't stare at the sun: Matthew 16: 4. Exercise YOUR faith -- Jonah 3: 5, 8 Jonah 4: 11.
One of my very favorite channels, I wish you could do them more often but considering the depth of the research required, it’s understandable why they take a little longer…I’ll take quality over quantity every time. Keep up the amazing work and captivating topics!
Xi's 6 G. The Yuan Digi-Pay wins the coin toss. THEN, 10/12/26, "You have destroyed yourselves with your endless wars of Gods. Now bow down and worship YOUR BEAST." That's what Xi says. Epochal Eclipse April 8th 2024. Don't stare at the sun: Matthew 16: 4 Exercise YOUR faith. Jonah 3: 5, 8 Jonah 4: 11.
This why the USA will never abandon Australia.. It's too important for them to lose as its a cross road between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.. Also to Antarctica which the USA can Naval blockade it from Australia to stop the Red Chinese attempts to mine it someday..
Very informative video, this video brings up intersectional questions on geopolitical, marine defence and critical infrastructure that impact the cyber domain. The law on submarine cables must be at the international level. I am not surprised it is taking so long to address because such critical infrastructure I would think would have such an important impact on the cyber and information domain. It seems like a reactive approach rather than a proactive situation to prevent conflict.
Another interesting thing about the repeater stations is that the high voltage can attract marine life, such as sharks. In the 80s they used to think it was because it was coax, but even when they moved to the tat1 cable it was causing frenzies. Basically, sharks attack the repeaters until the voltage lines kill them, causing outages. Most of the problems come from ships, like fishing trawlers, but it is another complication when dealing with the contracts for these cables in austrailia.
The distance between amplifiers is more like 100-200km and they only amplify, not repeat. They conduct optical only amplification without conversion of the signal to an electrical impulse.
This doesn't make sense. Incoming packets to an undersea cable can be aggregated and encrypted in bulk, preventing any info (including metadata) from leaking, except for volume. So having an untrusted party repair the cables should not pose any threat, as long as they don't get to touch the ends of the line, where encryption and decryption take place.
A small correction with the reference made to the Solomon Islands and 911. Australian intervention in the Solomon Islands was specifically for peace restoration following the 1999-2003 ethnic conflict.
RAMSI - Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands. A lot of the boots on the ground were provided by Fiji under the Melanesian Spearhead Group. 911 has very little to do with the situation in the Solomon Islands, it was a local dispute between Guadalcanal locals and Malaitans.
I have a doubt. Encryption and cryptography should make any attemts to extract information in transit through these cables useless. Every possible information leak in transit can be avoided easily with minimal overhead using some way or other. Only possible scenario cases include if either sender or receiver already has a compromised encryption or their is no encryption.
But you are under the assumption that governments wants, or wants to allow, encryption and cryptography...they would indeed make things safe but then how can governments spy on their own citizens if things are allowed to be encrypted?
@SalvoBrick-eg3uo Didn't Edward Snowden exposed what U$ Gov is doing with the World's data ... PRISM or un-warrant collection policy. U$ Gov got backdoor and source codes access for hardware and software used in telecommunication ...both American equipments/devices/gadgets and foreign-made that's examined/certified/approved by U$ Gov agencies.
You can analyze the metadata to detect "interesting" traffic (e.g. military) and store that specifically. Then, you wait until you have better computers (possibly quantum computers) to crack the encryption, and some of the secrets will still be relevant. Or the encryption is configured in a weak state (which is much more likely than no encryption for state secrets) and can already be cracked. Also, the metadata alone can be used to gain a strategic advantage. If a country assembles troops at the border, this is an indication that it will start an invasion. It is possible that analysis of data flows can give similar insights. Yet I don't think that that is very cost effective, you can probably get more reliable information in other, much cheaper, ways.
I have a doubt here. Why will undersea cables become an espionage threat. First of all, terabytes of data probably flows through each of these cables a second, and second, a majority of the data is encrypted using SSL or other advanced algorithms which cannot be cracked in any reasonable amount of time. So why is securing all the data so sensitive now? Is it just that there can be a future potential for importance of the data? It fees as if these governments are being paranoid
The communications still carry metadata and the majority of communications aren’t layered (onion style) to obscure it, doing so costs resources and degrades performance hugely, and is subject to snooping itself since you don’t control the points where it’s retransmitted. Governments also engage in store-now, decrypt-later as encryption/decryption is a cat and mouse game, and quantum computers might break existing encryption in the next few decades. SSH, SSL etc. aren’t a guarantee as we’ve seen with Heartbleed. The safest method is to combine it with as little surface area as possible.
Translation: Finally, someone has asked the key point. Firstly, it is difficult to conduct large-scale surveillance on undersea cables, not because it cannot be done, but because it requires high investment and has little significance. A large amount of data is stored on platform servers. In communication lines, this data is often encrypted and difficult to obtain in large quantities. Therefore, the only option left is to analyze the metadata to narrow down the scope and identify targets. Once the target is determined, one can obtain the required data from the platform, while narrowing down the scope for SSL stripping - for example, routers in offices or access points of service providers, but clearly not applicable to undersea cables. Therefore, such claims greatly exaggerate the extent of surveillance on undersea cables. For more details, refer to Snowden and subsequent leaked information.
The NEON GAUD says, "Sociopaths, with the best intentions, plan to end global warming and to win the Nobel prize, by turning off a few billion useless heaters with the Double-Whammy Virus. And IF the Virus fails, psychopaths are ready with Plan B: man-caused global cooling with a Nuclear Winter. Ewes, that's US -- we the sheeple -- won't stop borrowing trillions for war. Baaa'd?"
like 99% of connections are encrypted so I'd say this really doesn't matter in terms of privacy, but perhaps it access could be cut off if demands aren't met
very few encryption that's currently in use is quantum resistant, so we have to assume that most of our traffic is visible to state actors. If not now, then in the future
@@majorfallacy5926 that's a long way out. There is no realistic quantum computing on outside laboratories as far as I know. Welcome to correct me if my knowledge is outdated
@@TechnicalStoner a) we don't know what the big budget state actors have and b) we know that they're tapping encrypted data anyway. Most likely they're storing it for future decryption, but it's also not impossible that there are countries that can already do it.
I almost spat my coffee out at the "See me wee six cable". Sounds like that only carries a very specific kind of adult content. If you ever wondered if traffic is being monitored by governments though just look at GCHQ Bude. Strance coincidence that it's right next to the beach where most of the UK's cables land at Widemouth bay and most of the other cables land somewhere or other around the cornish coast
That's why everyone is going towards satellite internet. It's faster than data running along a cable. Those cables are a lot more difficult to repair. And can be blown up too.
Very nice video! Can you please make another one going into detail about data transfer via satellites? Including an overview about the main players in this area?
We used to hear about the cold war on the surface as well as in the sky but from your video we came to know that this type of cold war is being played with equal interest in the deep sea as well. Surprisingly no Russia or Russian in this cable war. Thanks Caspian Reports and team Hope this message is also going through the same cable:)
I find it HIGHLY dubious that these cables could have their data captured. Capturing data at what would be OSI layer 2 or 3 at best at such a scale would require RIDICULOUS amounts of storage
you dont have to store everything for it to be useful. also if facebook google etc are able to store your text history every UA-cam video every inta post and so on i find it unlikely the US government lacks the resources to do so also.
Layer 3 I think, since IP packets are unencrypted. With a little bit of deep packet inspection and filtering I don't think it would be too difficult to reduce the amount of "interesting" data to a more manageable number. That being said, data capturing is by far NOT the most technically challenging step. Without the capability to crack modern encryption schemes like ECDH/AES/Chacha (and I don't believe anyone, and I mean ANYONE can at this moment), whatever data they captured is of very little value. So I do agree with your sentiment that intelligence gathering via this method is still very much in theoretical feasibility territory.
@@scheimong For sure it'd be absolutely mind blowing if some of these weren't practically secure today, but mind blowing accomplishments have been achieved in secret before, no?
@@StayBassd yes of course. It would be very arrogant of me to claim that any particular encryption scheme is "unbreakable"; going by the speed of technological progression in the past century, I suspect many current algorithms would likely be considered insecure within 20 years. But the reason I think this is not too relevant with regards to submarine cables is that these encryption schemes are universally used, no matter the layer 1 medium. So submarine cables are no more or less susceptible to such attacks than for example, satellite communication. If an adversary is able to break encryption, then no form of telecommunication is secure.
Interesting topic. Thumbs up! One suggestion: Please remove, or at least turn down the volume on the monotonous background music. As artists say...'What does not add, detracts.' The music definitely dos not add.
It's incredible much many ressources and time are wasted on power struggles among nations. By the way: What are the sources for this video? You used to share the sources more often in the past.
It is surprising, even if it shouldn't be, that submarine cables carry the bulk of reliable, high-volume data. On a WestPac cruise in the Navy, about all we did on a little frigate was patrol the corridor between Singapore and Japan, including the contested China Sea "claim" of today that was unquestioned US prerogative at the time. I was on a kind of odd-lot boat that typically traveled solo, also wandering over the Mariana Trench to evidently drop a long hydrophone array and collect all sorts of oceanographic data. Either way, from the Singapore Strait northward, it was all about safeguarding the passage of oil tankers plus, I guess, the flow of information. Oh, well: The Cold War is dead. Long live the Cold War.
More than $10 trillion worth of financial transactions are transmitted via #submarine #cables every single day. Now, #China and #America are looking to wrest subsea control and set the power parity for the 21st century.
Thanks for your videos and work.
Shariah would unify
War thunder is a russian game. They sponsoring terrorism. It's a pity that tou are sharing this. Shame on you
I am truly impressed by Shervan's accent improvement.
Always well voiced, converging toward North Atlantic English accent. Very professional!
Please drop that repetitive drone sound that flares up every 10-15 seconds, its incredibly distracting! Your videos were so much more enjoyable before that sound invaded the videos!
As someone with an interest in cybersecurity, I never thought about how critical undersea cables could be to national security. Great video
There are literal battles over those cables. Our government needs to be ashamed of itself. They court-martialed a navy captain rather than admit a Chinese war ship attacked his ship GUARDING an undersea cable and fooled us using a rigged required ship ID to look like a tanker. Our navy vessel was idled using an EMP weapon (the captain is supposed to have psychic powers and know that is about to happen??) and was boarded. Sailors were shot and they blamed the captain? No warning from our satellites, Intel, CIA, or Air Force fly overs but its his fault?
As someone working in CTI, they actually aren't or at least 98% of them aren't. Here is why :
- the way the internet works is by splitting info into small packets and sending them to servers that will rebuild those packets. It's already hard to get all the packets and even with all the information packets get lost often (to the point we had to instantiate a way to know what's missing so that it gets resent).
- each packet will take the shortest route based on a huge amount of factors not just distance. They are also encrypted with very strong protocols.
- Now imagine the cable, flooding with billions of terabytes of encrypted data. If you try to spy one well you will not get anything relevant. Most of the data will not be complete (it will go through different cables) and encrypted. After spending the 2000 years it will take just to sort 1TB of it you now need to analyse all of this data, contextualise it etc..
- only military-exclusive cable could be under actual spying as the information will be concentrated on one cable and in way lower quantities. And all of it is actual sensitive info, not just a random TikTok comment.
- cutting cable only works on remote and badly served areas such as very small islands fun fact, even if you cut all sea cables, you will just create 2 internet networks:
- Eurasia + Africa
- America
The fight for cables is mostly to have the tech giant (no matter the country) have complete control over their traffic, leading to less geopolitical pressure from foreign states.
Now if you have an interest in cybersecurity, and more specifically over the "internet under the hood", here are a few attacks that are way more plausible :
- just attack the actual target, no country on the planet can defend itself from a state attack. Strong cyber countries have low infrastructure attacks due to their response capability, not their defence (similar to nuclear power). For spying, between allies, countries spy and disrupt foreign companies to gain some market access, advantage etc. So just imagine between less friendly states. But it's quoted as the norm, attacks are way more disguised for obvious political reasons and smaller in scale and strength for economic reasons (no one will spend 2b$ to gain a 200 project) therefore you can usually defend against those.
- if you are in a very disruptive state under very heavy succession and have a strong cybersecurity team (i.e. DPRK) just hard attack the 13 DNS root servers. You will cut internet everywhere on the planet and it will be way harder to rebuild than just replacing a cable. The crisis resulting from this action will be extremely devastating which is why :
- they are the most protected area on the planet both physically and informatically
- Backups and "unofficial" root DNS servers are here just to palliate this potential attack.
- no country will benefit from it, just like a full nuclear war so no one really attacks resulting in a higher ability to defend it when someone actually attacks it
In the end, to gain geopolitical power on the international stage you don't need to tell the truth, just to have people believing it. While spy activity on those cables is very unlikely, saying that they are is as much important
@@JoyPeace-ej2uv
Really...?!
When did that happened ?
If that's true... Then congratulations to the Chinese for protecting themselves against the Hegemon .
@@JoyPeace-ej2uvgod bless you and everyone involved for your service
@@JoyPeace-ej2uv emp weapon. lmao. no.
I worked for Tyco Telecom servicing these cables and it’s crazy that I can be involved for years there and still not know this aspect of the industry.
Where spying and geopolitical manoeuvring is concerned, its best you don't know - you might not have approved.
I used to collect Tyco slot cars
These cable is obsolete.
LOL what aspect? This video is trying REALLY hard to be dramatic, but there's very little actually being said.
It's basically a new to know basis since it is a security point. U only know what 7 need to know to do ur job. This way if anything happens like a breach they can track down the people wit the knowledge of this incident and then just go door to door. This is why virology have everyone in a list so if something happens they can just look up the list and go door to door until they get the guy . Same for any corporation and military
imagine being concerned about tapping cables and simultaneously attacking the ability for citizens to encrypt their communications. Insane.
That's how it goes, all governments and world leaders are hypocrites. Nobody has a right to their citizen's private information except for their state
Everyone is a hypocrite in their own way.
Are you talking about america or china? both are doing both lol. (not unique to america or china though, canada, UK, australia are all trying to pass laws that limit/ban encryption, and general removal of privacy. Likely more countries beyond this that I'm not knowledge about are guilty as well)
@@nikhileshsingh8706 they're hypocrites as a matter of course
@@axmoylotl I expect China to, I don't expect western countries with constitutions to.
Undersea cables are single-mode, so tapping is very difficult and if possible then it will draw energy, that could be detected by OTDR measurements. Most modern transceivers have built-in OTDR that automatically identify of breaks or taps in the cable. It will also tell the exact location, too.
yes correct, it will be interesting to know how SPy agencies are able to tap into the data
The video discussed that the repeaters could be compromised, not that anyone's slicing the cable and interrupting the fibers themselves
An optical time domain reflectometer? You can't just hit us with an acronym and expect everyone to know. Some of us have never terminated cable.
I f China installs it then it already is tapped and why Australia is making sure they can not connect to their lines. that is fair. China should stay in it's own area .
There's lots and lots more on waveform propagation of that a freshman physics major could explain to you that defeats your theory. Cables do NOT have to be pierced in any way whatsoever. Even fiber optics 'leak' electromagnetic and light emissions. Very, VERY little....but they leak. Something sensitive enough would have no trouble detecting and quantifying it. The lines are presently tapped all the time....under the ocean.Exactly where is never known. This is a fact. Just because YOU don't think it could happen undetected does not mean it cannot be done.
Please keep doing what you're doing in the format that you are doing it. Your non-biased informational videos are a breath of fresh air in a world where news push their own agenda paid by someone else. Thank you.
Non biased? More like well disguise US propaganda warmonger news attacking China is a just rock bottom low.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@user-ik6gl8ks6o It just seems that way to you because you have been exposed to one-sided depictions for so long, they have become the norm for you, and you have begun to think of them as the standard of neutrality. Once you learn how to research both sides of different topics, it becomes easier to appreciate just how objective people like Shirvan are.
This guy is west biased big time
@@VVayVVard too bad the extent of your “research” is watching CNN, FOX and BBC “news” lol 🤦♂️😂
"Laws is like sausages, it's better not see them being made"
- Shirvan's quote of the year
It's a well known quote, often misquoted to Otto Von Bismark. The original is from as far back as 1869: "“Laws,” says that illustrious rhymer, Mr. John Godfrey Saxe, “like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made." - The Daily Cleveland Herald, March 29, 1869
I've taken part in making homemade sausages. I don't get why would anyone not want to see them being made, unless they're disgusted by raw meat or spices.
it's a quote from Bismarck
@@szaszm_ Kinda funny how tube is censoring like every word I'm trying to use to answer your comment. Digital Auschwitz
Your videos are insanely well made, so impressive.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@js70371 What's funny?
@@theascendunt9960 the hyperbole of the OPs comment
@@js70371 they are well made and very well researched. I consume this alongside Foreign Affairs and enjoy it even more at times.
Thank you, and you're welcome.
One of the best channels on geopolitics, love how everything is very objective and to the point. Please keep up the great work :) !!!
True that
China has just launched the fastest Internet in the world. 10x faster than the US connection speeds. Can download 150 4k movies in 1 second (1.2 TB a sec).
My favorite anti west channel
Like you are certified to judge objectivity on the subject.
@@upvotecomment2110he is so obviously pro West, spreading western propaganda all the time, in almost every video.
Fiber optic cables are extremely hard to detect if you don't already know where to look. And, it is so dirt cheap to produce, I wouldn't be surprised if there are multiple completely unused, unpublished cables branches already laid in place in the event of sabotage
If they're so dirt cheap, then why do we still use mostly copper landlines for internet in 2023?
I also wouldn't be surprised if these cables are used by state and non-state actors to skim data. I'm unfamiliar with the mechanics of these cables, but I imagine it is possible to redirect traffic through unknown cables without detection.
Yeah these cables are really cheap 😅
@@CakePrincessCelestia copper landlines were already in place for decades to support cable television, the telephone network, etc. It’s easy, then, to just utilize this infrastructure that already exists and connect digital modems to the ends of these copper lines (like a cable modem). All new, modern data landlines being laid now, though, are fiber optic.
@CakePrincessCelestia the cables themselves are fairly cheap nowadays (submarine cables are a bit of a different story though), it's the labor to put it in the ground or on the poles that costs you. We use copper for landlines in areas where those cables are already in the ground; basically anything new build, we're running fiber.
When looking for expedient outcomes, ruthlessness is as good as strategem. He always drops one of these truth bombs once an episode
@@humboldthammer You should stop internetting until you can avoid bringing religion into a totally nonreligious conversation. Comment reported as spam.
@@guydreamr Thanks, KAREN. Here is a FACT: THEY BELIEVE. That is a fact that YOU should not ignore.
Was Trump Chosen by God? ALL the Prophets on mainstream Christian TV proclaimed Trump CHOSEN BY GOD to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Are Israeli's God's Chosen people? The WAR is God vs God (IS I vs I AM).
What is Spam? I seek no followers, sell no books or DVD's. Why are you pretending not to see?
African nations in India from Calcata to Madras had all of these technologies for 5000 years..
3:11 Skip ads.
Thank you
When I first found out about these cables it really blew my mind cause I never really considered that the internet is physically connected like that
😂😂 really? Are you a gen z?
We were told all internet connections were done by satellites…. 😮😮😮
@@adelinad3513 yes I am😂 but I'm very certain my mom doesn't know that either
@@nemo2203 that's what I used to think!
@@olivero.1877Wait until you figure out the taxonomy of birds.
There is a concern that the construction of a desalination plant in Fortaleza could potentially disrupt internet connectivity in Brazil. The plant is being built near submarine internet cables that connect Brazil to Europe. Experts suggest that unforeseen incidents during construction or changes in the ocean floor could potentially damage these cables, affecting internet functionality.
That is interesting. I'm Brazilian and didn't know that.
I know a good deal about fiber optic cables but nothing about desalination plant impacts. My half layman opinion is that it seems unlikely to be a problem unless they are building literally on the same place, like few dozen meters separation.
Brazil is fucked. Any kind of development bothers the country.
No big deal Brazilians hate Europe, ya know the whole colonization history
@@b.6603or accidents. Could hurt important infrastructure on accident
@@b.6603 bem, parafraseando dominic toreto: isso é brasil. Se pode dar merda, é mt provavel q dê merda
Best episode in quite a while. I always adored your channel because it covered niche subjects that are nevertheless very relevant.
More on the intersection of geopolitics and data please. Info is power.
African nations in India from Calcata to Madras had all of these technologies for 5000 years....
@@breezeanonymous6034 take your meds
@@raifsevrence Check you medication bottles labels, all are made by African nations in India and their incredible technologies for 5000 years. Take a trip there and see yourself, the extreme beauty of everything there and 5000 years old technologies there will shock you.
Shirvan is still on fire with those after intro one-liners, as usual 👍
the intro gave me goosebumps
“Laws are like sausages” had me rolling tho.
@@breezeanonymous6034lmao
Very refreshing. It's nice to see something that isn't mainly about military conflict.
😂😂😂😂
🤔
Never knew the intl cable network was so large and important geopolitically. Thanks for the video!
Your videos as always are amazing and even getting more amazing as time goes by. Thank you as always for all the hard work you do my friend. Keep this channel going because you are so amazing as a newscaster. It’s not just the way you speak, and the words you use, but it’s your overall personality. You are very calm in the face of dark news. You also have a very emotional personality that people can feel through your videos. Great job as always. I always come back to this channel when I see a new video or if I even want to get information again on past events.
Great overview! It also shows the level of entrenchment of big tech. They're in fact, the toll booths of the modern economy. Also, it is important to note how these cables grow in importance over time as companies adjust their processes to the new connections. Any issues we face now will become more politically laden as the economy shifts to the cloud.
If would be better if small companies form LECs could get a share of the cake, perhaps countries like Nigeria should organise cables instead of USA and China
the usg plans to use "elon musk" to put satellites into action, severe the undersea cables and take control of the internet with pay per access. i cant believe you dont all see this coming. "Elon" is really just the govt privatizing its duties.
Where possibly a lot of 'missing' US tax dollars go to as well. (Besides other projects).
@@nathanielbugg7355 Apple isn't even a player in this arena.
Regardless, please explain why 'American' (why the quotes btw?) like Alphabet, Microsoft, etc. who .. alongside the government of the USA, are almost entirely responsible for the internet as we know it today (for good or ill) shouldn't maintain any control of the infrastructure and technology that they have created, built, and shared with the world .. and why any of them shouldn't be allowed to charge a "toll" to access it?
And why shouldn't the USA express concerns or control over the security of the data in the cables that it has laid .. connected to major backbones of the internet that it has created, and which a tremendous portion of global internet traffic relies upon?
@@THE-X-Force man, that all really sucks. everything you just said. American exceptionalism in a nutshell. the kool-aid has been drunk hard. from the rest of the world, "Go fuck yourself!"
China is proving that expertise no matter what kind is important for national security and prosperity. USA should honestly snap out of it and return to national self reliance.
Agreed.. but their business is war lately
@@crassgop on wars and accumulating influence and on petro dollar schemes done by that private corporation that you call federal reserve.
It will be interesting to see how much of the USA GDP comes from external sources.
@@aberbaall richest countries in history had been because of trade
@@aberbaIsolationism fail always
This is too compact for me. I literally had to pause and relisten a lot of these information. Very good script. Well done.
Just keep watching, eventually you'll be able to follow his videos non-stop
This information is really important to understand, it is more relevant currently than ever before. This framework factors into so many narratives in global affairs and motives behind the scenes.
Shirvan's English diction has improved tremendously in the past five years
This has been an eye-opening video, all the intrigue and geopolitical machinations tied up with these cables. Was watching and wondering how all this had missed Diego Garcia and there it came.😄
so much importance yet lacking modern laws, significant investment, and protection of encryption. It's baffling, really.
It happened to me but with Ascensión, Sta. Helena and Tristan de Cunha
@@sinephase laws stop nothing you fool.
Where possibly a lot of 'missing' US tax dollars go to as well. (Besides other projects).
African nations in India from Calcata to Madras had all of these technologies for 5000 years.
US ensures its exclusive spying capability. Afterall, Snowdon detailed US's spying connectors to these cables, but US had never disclosed the Huawei "backdoor".
And Huawei have ASKED for the US to publish this so called backdoor... No response.
The US called the weather balloon a spy balloon... China said it's not the US shot it down... Then quietly the US military admitted it had no surveillance capability despite dragging China's name through the mud.
The British recently accused the Chinese of spying on Parliament via a junior British employee... The guy was arrested and china blamed all over British media... Even the head of intelligence of the UK went on the news (which never happens) denouncing Chinese interference in British democracy...
The young man has since had all charges dropped and no connection to china or wrongdoing was found yet NONE of that made it to headline news and no apology to china
That’s not true. I’be friends in cybersecurity. There’s a ton of evidence for the back door and you can even see it in real time with Huawei phones
Why would they? The US state department made that claim up
What is the story? Huawei only violates as a company the requirement to not to trade with Iran nothing about the privacy
Little funny you think that the US is the only party listening in
Very satisfying to understand world events from this perspective, instead of trying to put random pieces together
Thanks for this comprehensive overview. It opened my eyes to the importance of the undersea cables and the geopolitical implications of who lays, repairs and controls them. Also, I had no idea that satellites handle so little of the internet traffic. Interesting revelation.
The definition of a satellite in communications is not what you probably understand it to be...submarine cables being one type
Most all GPS is done by cell towers... satellite networks in space are mostly fantasy.
@@sg305The West (United States) doesn't care about poor countries. they only care if there is China there
Hello Shervan, I personally am the integrated circuit layout designer who drafted the laser diode control chips inside that refresh module. You're welcome.
I worked on installing and deploying optical fiber systems for decades in both telecom and CATV networks. Any competent technician will tell you it is incredibly easy to compromise optical fiber systems as all one needs is a physical access point to the cables optical fibers. Literally any splice point, where cables ends are joined, is a perfect access point...but creating an opening in the cable anywhere along its length really isn't hard to do with a little cable slack. There is no need to cut into the optical fiber itself since a simple "bender" device placed on a loop of an individual fiber will allow complete access to all data being carried. Imagine twirling a piece of hair around your finger...pretty much the same idea. These access points can be detected with the right equipment and training but you would have to have a reason to look to even know it was happening. If data is not heavily encrypted at the point of origin it is not secure. Period.
You can't bend an armored undersea cable. You have to cut into it, if not into the fibers. And then you have to transmit the data to an analysis center somewhere, so you need another cable or in-place packet inspection to filter interesting traffic. But repeaters are not made to host significant computing capability. Basically, it is not simple to tap into a submarine cable. So realistically you need access to the endpoints where the cable goes on land to intercept the data.
I agree that strong encryption is critical.
But 90% of web traffic today is encrypted (though the configs are not always secure), and the percentage is probably close to 100% for truly sensitive data like banking.
Yet intelligence agencies can still harvest important metadata. And in case of an all-out cyber war, a country can selectively block traffic on infrastructure they control, and try to destroy infrastructure they don't. I do not think such an all-out war is likely.
@@entcraft44 A lot of misconceptions in that 1st paragraph...if you know, you know.
I am glad to see the channel producing expected quality. appreciate the report.
Submarine telegraph cables helped man investigate and understand plate tectonics. The transatlantic cable kept breaking.
Microsoft has started producing waveguide fibre cables. Light travels much slower through a medium like glass, but because the waveguides are hollow, there’s probably going to be a new boom of undersea cables avoid the world. 40-47% faster communication in *latency * rather than bandwidth, will edge out in trading, gaming, defence and all sorts of realtime edge and IoT applications. This was one of the motivations for StarLink due to the low latency of communications through the vacuum of space. Don’t know how this will affect the geopolitics of undersea cables.
Optical waveguides are less efficient than fibre optics and only used for short range or very high power applications. They are also much more fragile than fibre oprics. An undersea cable would be the worst possible application for an optical waveguide.
@@ArmySigs hollow core fibres with comparable attenuation to silica fibres had already been tested and described in 2020. There are articles as of this year explaining that early examples had higher attenuation but are now either comparable or lower. In any case the fact that it could theoretically be done was established over 20 years ago. Since repeaters are already used anyway, that wouldn’t be any different and a cable with somewhat higher losses could already be justified in some long distance use cases given hollow core can support far wider bands than silica which is how they’ve just broken the record again for bandwidth. Combining that capacity with cutting eg. 30ms across the Pacific Ocean would be a game changer even for just a few cables.
@@Freshbott2 Latency is an issue for applications where a few milliseconds across a span of thousands of miles is critical. But, back around 2005, I worked for a company which had a branch 'way down under'. I was amazed at how natural our phone conversations were (U.S - Australia). We spoke as naturally as though we were in the same city. In quickly responding to statements or questions, we never stepped over each other's transmissions. We were unaware of latency and made no preparatory accommodation for it. For that to occur, the one way latency is likely no more than 10 milliseconds (close to the speed of light, and faster than light were satellites to be used instead)
@@gregparrott I don’t disagree that it’s incredible but a connection from Sydney to San Jose for example by nature can’t be any less than about 100ms if I’ve done my maths right. This is consistent with a ping from the west coast to San Jose, which is about 260-300ms. A ping between Perth and Sydney is about 60-70. I’ve had an interview between WA and Vancouver that was fine enough for a conversation. Aussie gamers know the frustration of being booted from servers due to latency, and any case where language isn’t important Aussies will often use Asian servers and where latency isn’t important use North American servers. In any case, online games are often unplayable or unenjoyable if not on an Australian server for people in Perth and it’s sometimes the case in Melbourne. Latency is a big problem to solve that till now has been a fundamental physics one! Even if all the undersea sables were hollow core, there’d still be some losses in the hops.
@@Freshbott2 I looked up the latency for fiber. One source said ~5 microseconds (uS) per kilometer (km). That's a lot more than I assumed. The speed of light's latency is 3.33 uS per km. The distance from California to Australia is listed at 8,128 miles (13081 km). Using these numbers, you're right. It comes to just a hair over 100ms. I wondered how the latency appeared to be minimal. One person mentioned that that the telecom companies prioritize low latency, over bandwidth. The bandwidth for speech over the phone is only something like a meager 48 kbits. Around 18 years ago, telecommunications may have been on dedicated (low latency?) lines instead of being on the internet, as they are now.
I don't know, but it sure seemed less than 0.2 seconds before I received (for example) a simple yes/no response to a question.
So what I'm hearing is everyone is annoyed at the other country laying cables that are probably tapped so they want to force the contracts into their own countries so they could be the ones to tap those cables... Great...
Reading the comments, I'm always surprised how many people don't know about submarine cables. There is a lack of information on this subject. Thank you for your good work.
Great video never could picture the internet cables coming together and Guam being a crazy info hub
@14:42 It's worth pointing out that HMN's bid was considered suspicious by industry analysts: firstly because the Chinese government was believed to be subsidising the company furtively in order to interfere on its behalf and secondly because it was the tender equivalent of export "dumping", where companies deliberately undercharge for work or goods in order to charge higher prices later, once they have control over the parts or equipment used to keep it running. So it wasn't such n attractive bid as you might think.
sounds made up as hell. and you're commenting on an AI video made by ChatGPT.
@@BikingWIthPanda Not an Ai video and not made by ChatGPT. Get out of here you troll!
All country subsidise some. Industries. All normal and to be expected.
China has a mix economy with important industries are state owned, some less important industries are privately owned. This worked really well for the country and has improved China spectacularly. This model worked so well that it lifted 800 millions Chinese out of poverty while China is now second largest economy in the world. Of course China will continue this development path.
Western country, USA in particular is bought and ran by private companies.
USA economy steadily declined since 1971.
The economy suffered.
The average Americans suffered. USA government granted a lot of subsidy to various industries. USA government also work closely with various industries behind closed doors anyway.
China focused on taking care of its own citizens. That is why it has developed so well.
American government only cares about itself, it drains the blood out of the economy so it may gain. And even that wasn't enough to satisfy it.
@@misterhill5598 Not another troll! You spread disinformation on this subject-only a few countries subsidise their major industries - mostly poor and inefficient ones in fact. Most countries do use customs duties to favour industries - very different and IRRELEVANT to HMN's bid. Also the US economy has not declined since 1971; that's Chinese government propaganda that it uses to misinform its citizens and ignorant people/BOTS like you. China is a dictatorship where all citizens are carefully monitored by the communists in charge and people's lives are managed. It's just a huge open prison; except for some minorities like the Uighurs, who live in real prisons! LOL
Brain rot@@BikingWIthPanda
I fucking love your intros, and especially always the last sentence. How you come up with some of it is awesome. Really well written.
✌️😂☮️
African nations in India from Calcata to Madras had all of these technologies for 5000 years
War Thunder outbid all the vpn services for this video
Yeah I feel like VPN services would be all over this topic
’’When looking for expedient outcomes, ruthlessness is as good as stratagem’’ - One hell of a quote - subscribed!
Excellent! Not many people are aware of this topic. Thanks for the video.
Watching a serious, no-nonsense overview of the geopolitics of submarine cables, and then "Laws are like sausages: it's better not to see them being made" suddenly strolls in and derails my whole frame of mind. I literally had to pause and recover for a minute.
Wow! Too say I had no idea is an understatement! Nice report and great graphics! Thanks for the knowledge!
Thank you for proving my point that we don’t use satellites for communication purposes. It’s all under sea cables and buried land cables that run from tower to tower.
This is one of the most best edited and well made videos i ever saw
How does Caspian give such BANGER quotes each and every report??? So good
Future Zoom calls with Asia will never be the same now I know my video is physically passing through the EU, depart the continent in Marseille then race through the Suez canal, the red sea, gulf of aden, Arabian sea, Indian Ocean, Malacca strait, to end up in Singapore and vice versa... in milliseconds.
Never before now -- not in the entire history of humanity -- have so many educated people lived so freely and so abundantly. And for just 17+ years, since Google bought UA-cam, we have been connected to a Shared, Worldwide Experience with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake "THIS" Generation Up.
@humboldthammer well...unfortunately it's not guaranteed. Those who have the intellectual ability to filter fact from fiction and truth from lies definitely benefit from the information exchange. However it makes it all that much easier to confuse the narrative and disseminate false narratives to confuse the public of the world at large. Foreign intergenerational services could only have dreamt in years past about access to foreign populations like that which exist today through the internet. Like any other development, it's a double edged sword. That being said I think we are far better off with it than without it and we will grow with it.
@@humboldthammerPropaganda and misinformation is more common now, but thankfully the tools to fight back are widely available for those who wish. Those who like to not think for themselves and not investigate are more easily bamboozled than ever before. The first thing we must ask ourselves, are we wrong? Are our preconceptions and views wrong and are they based in reality. We must all ask ourselves that.
@@MasterGhostf Don't forget government spying and snooping on it's own citizens. That comes along with the propaganda and misinformation...and the government is often behind propaganda and misinformation.
@@MasterGhostf Everything I write is true, by my intent, before I post, because the STRENGTH of any UA-cam comment is directly proportional to the TRUTH it contains. There will be an Epochal Eclipse a CROSS North America on April 8th 2024, when MORE shall be revealed to those with "eyes and ears." The rest will see only an eclipse. Don't stare at the sun:
Matthew 16: 4. Exercise YOUR faith -- Jonah 3: 5, 8 Jonah 4: 11.
As an Australian, it never gets old hearing people totally butcher the names of Australian cities
Good. You'll have fun for the rest of your life then, mate.
I shudder to imagine what a hash he'd make of Wooloomooloo!
I'm Australian, But I don't care if someone mispronounces the name of an Australian City. It is most trivial and inconsequential.
Like Australians butcher the English language. Sorry mate, had to say it.
@@breezeanonymous6034 Your hat is on too tight.
21:33 "Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made."
Gonna steal that one. Though I prefer "Religions are like dicks, don't shove 'em down someone's throat without asking prior." :D
That's the dumbest line I've ever heard
I bet Ordinary Sausage would disagree.
So true
Never a CapianReport vid that didn't hold me till the end, many thanks!!
Can you make more videos like this about undersea cables? I love your content and always have. But this was next level!
One of my very favorite channels, I wish you could do them more often but considering the depth of the research required, it’s understandable why they take a little longer…I’ll take quality over quantity every time. Keep up the amazing work and captivating topics!
That's fine. Africa will use China's internet
China will use starlink. Win win
I have to commend this channel, they always cover really interesting topics!
the fact that China+ US combined is only 3/4 of French French existing and planned cable network is astounding
Napoleon, init!
Planned counts? Then I guess I’m planning to lay a million miles of cable. When I get around to it.
@@lloydwoodward9053 it's also compared to us and chinese planned cable
Both US and China are experimenting with satellite backhaul
very good points presented, well researched, and very objective... kudos!
😂😂😂
From the cable lines shown here I can see why China wants the south China sea
Xi's 6 G. The Yuan Digi-Pay wins the coin toss.
THEN, 10/12/26, "You have destroyed yourselves with your endless wars of Gods. Now bow down and worship YOUR BEAST." That's what Xi says.
Epochal Eclipse April 8th 2024. Don't stare at the sun: Matthew 16: 4 Exercise YOUR faith. Jonah 3: 5, 8 Jonah 4: 11.
Why they want to claim that body of international waters
@@jcdenton7914 Taiwan has the same claim to those waters did you know that? ofc not, they will only let you know that after they lost and nobody cares
China is very much an expansionist power, it wants to conquer everything around it.
I enjoy your reports the most. Unbiased.😊
This why the USA will never abandon Australia.. It's too important for them to lose as its a cross road between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.. Also to Antarctica which the USA can Naval blockade it from Australia to stop the Red Chinese attempts to mine it someday..
Very informative video, this video brings up intersectional questions on geopolitical, marine defence and critical infrastructure that impact the cyber domain. The law on submarine cables must be at the international level. I am not surprised it is taking so long to address because such critical infrastructure I would think would have such an important impact on the cyber and information domain. It seems like a reactive approach rather than a proactive situation to prevent conflict.
Another interesting thing about the repeater stations is that the high voltage can attract marine life, such as sharks. In the 80s they used to think it was because it was coax, but even when they moved to the tat1 cable it was causing frenzies. Basically, sharks attack the repeaters until the voltage lines kill them, causing outages. Most of the problems come from ships, like fishing trawlers, but it is another complication when dealing with the contracts for these cables in austrailia.
The distance between amplifiers is more like 100-200km and they only amplify, not repeat. They conduct optical only amplification without conversion of the signal to an electrical impulse.
Amazing video. Extremely important information for people and rulers across the globe.
Allah razı olsun
This doesn't make sense. Incoming packets to an undersea cable can be aggregated and encrypted in bulk, preventing any info (including metadata) from leaking, except for volume. So having an untrusted party repair the cables should not pose any threat, as long as they don't get to touch the ends of the line, where encryption and decryption take place.
Most ethernet links are unencrypted though that will change with time.
16:56 you said Singapore when clearly you meant the Seychelles! Had me quite confused there for a second
The best unclassified explanation I have seen. Bravo Zulu (Well Done.)
Thanks, very informative.
A small correction with the reference made to the Solomon Islands and 911. Australian intervention in the Solomon Islands was specifically for peace restoration following the 1999-2003 ethnic conflict.
Sure sure...
Every colonial force always say they come to help
They were litterally killing each other and then the Chinese immigrants there
RAMSI - Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands. A lot of the boots on the ground were provided by Fiji under the Melanesian Spearhead Group. 911 has very little to do with the situation in the Solomon Islands, it was a local dispute between Guadalcanal locals and Malaitans.
I have a doubt. Encryption and cryptography should make any attemts to extract information in transit through these cables useless. Every possible information leak in transit can be avoided easily with minimal overhead using some way or other. Only possible scenario cases include if either sender or receiver already has a compromised encryption or their is no encryption.
But you are under the assumption that governments wants, or wants to allow, encryption and cryptography...they would indeed make things safe but then how can governments spy on their own citizens if things are allowed to be encrypted?
@SalvoBrick-eg3uo
Didn't Edward Snowden exposed what U$ Gov is doing with the World's data ... PRISM or un-warrant collection policy.
U$ Gov got backdoor and source codes access for hardware and software used in telecommunication ...both American equipments/devices/gadgets and foreign-made that's examined/certified/approved by U$ Gov agencies.
Its more likely they will just install the taps at landfall anyway. China is just trying to gain the "south china sea" by any means necessary.
You can analyze the metadata to detect "interesting" traffic (e.g. military) and store that specifically. Then, you wait until you have better computers (possibly quantum computers) to crack the encryption, and some of the secrets will still be relevant. Or the encryption is configured in a weak state (which is much more likely than no encryption for state secrets) and can already be cracked.
Also, the metadata alone can be used to gain a strategic advantage. If a country assembles troops at the border, this is an indication that it will start an invasion. It is possible that analysis of data flows can give similar insights. Yet I don't think that that is very cost effective, you can probably get more reliable information in other, much cheaper, ways.
So France is the main intersection of world, while Suez Canal congested cable line
Amazing video. Highly informative and well researched, paired with easy to understand explanations and graphics. Well done.
Cooperation, sharing, and planning would really make everything so much easier.
I have a doubt here. Why will undersea cables become an espionage threat. First of all, terabytes of data probably flows through each of these cables a second, and second, a majority of the data is encrypted using SSL or other advanced algorithms which cannot be cracked in any reasonable amount of time. So why is securing all the data so sensitive now? Is it just that there can be a future potential for importance of the data? It fees as if these governments are being paranoid
>implying it can't already be cracked
The communications still carry metadata and the majority of communications aren’t layered (onion style) to obscure it, doing so costs resources and degrades performance hugely, and is subject to snooping itself since you don’t control the points where it’s retransmitted.
Governments also engage in store-now, decrypt-later as encryption/decryption is a cat and mouse game, and quantum computers might break existing encryption in the next few decades.
SSH, SSL etc. aren’t a guarantee as we’ve seen with Heartbleed. The safest method is to combine it with as little surface area as possible.
Translation:
Finally, someone has asked the key point.
Firstly, it is difficult to conduct large-scale surveillance on undersea cables, not because it cannot be done, but because it requires high investment and has little significance.
A large amount of data is stored on platform servers. In communication lines, this data is often encrypted and difficult to obtain in large quantities.
Therefore, the only option left is to analyze the metadata to narrow down the scope and identify targets.
Once the target is determined, one can obtain the required data from the platform, while narrowing down the scope for SSL stripping - for example, routers in offices or access points of service providers, but clearly not applicable to undersea cables.
Therefore, such claims greatly exaggerate the extent of surveillance on undersea cables. For more details, refer to Snowden and subsequent leaked information.
People who do bad things worry about espionage. That’s why they hate Snowden and Assange.
Great analysis and info, as always. Just one thing: it's CAN-berra (not Can-BErra)
Can we all appreciate the fact that CaspianReport never disappointed us with his content. 🤚
If they want to cut out China, they'll have to cut out Africa as well because Africa chooses China
great as always, thanks for the video
Good vids guys. Keep em coming
Imagine hearing an Artificial Intelligence say that "Laws are like Sausages.. It's better not to see them being made". Oh wait...
by ai meaning when youre so spaced out on thc you have no idea what youre saying
@@LoneWolf-wp9dn 6:10
The NEON GAUD says, "Sociopaths, with the best intentions, plan to end global warming and to win the Nobel prize, by turning off a few billion useless heaters with the Double-Whammy Virus. And IF the Virus fails, psychopaths are ready with Plan B: man-caused global cooling with a Nuclear Winter. Ewes, that's US -- we the sheeple -- won't stop borrowing trillions for war. Baaa'd?"
Who knew that Caspian-Report could get people so galvanized about essentially, laying pipe lol
like 99% of connections are encrypted so I'd say this really doesn't matter in terms of privacy, but perhaps it access could be cut off if demands aren't met
Cutting off an entire country from internet. Hmmm. I guess that's the sort of power China also wants. 😂
very few encryption that's currently in use is quantum resistant, so we have to assume that most of our traffic is visible to state actors. If not now, then in the future
@@majorfallacy5926 that's a long way out. There is no realistic quantum computing on outside laboratories as far as I know. Welcome to correct me if my knowledge is outdated
@@TechnicalStoner a) we don't know what the big budget state actors have and b) we know that they're tapping encrypted data anyway. Most likely they're storing it for future decryption, but it's also not impossible that there are countries that can already do it.
@@majorfallacy5926this is all assumptions. Can you back anything you're saying with fact?
love this video...one of your better ones although they are all very good...info I was ignorant of...keep it up!
Great video and research as always. Undersea cables are a huge weakness and potential leverage, although they are best used as a threat.
"sausagges"
I almost spat my coffee out at the "See me wee six cable". Sounds like that only carries a very specific kind of adult content. If you ever wondered if traffic is being monitored by governments though just look at GCHQ Bude. Strance coincidence that it's right next to the beach where most of the UK's cables land at Widemouth bay and most of the other cables land somewhere or other around the cornish coast
As always spot on🇨🇦
That's why everyone is going towards satellite internet. It's faster than data running along a cable. Those cables are a lot more difficult to repair. And can be blown up too.
Great video!
Very nice video! Can you please make another one going into detail about data transfer via satellites? Including an overview about the main players in this area?
sus
We used to hear about the cold war on the surface as well as in the sky but from your video we came to know that this type of cold war is being played with equal interest in the deep sea as well. Surprisingly no Russia or Russian in this cable war.
Thanks Caspian Reports and team
Hope this message is also going through the same cable:)
I was surprised as well. Russia seems only capable of cutting off cables.
I find it HIGHLY dubious that these cables could have their data captured. Capturing data at what would be OSI layer 2 or 3 at best at such a scale would require RIDICULOUS amounts of storage
Lots of land in USA. Everything is captured. Even the electromagnetic emissions of biological targets like human beings.
you dont have to store everything for it to be useful. also if facebook google etc are able to store your text history every UA-cam video every inta post and so on i find it unlikely the US government lacks the resources to do so also.
Layer 3 I think, since IP packets are unencrypted. With a little bit of deep packet inspection and filtering I don't think it would be too difficult to reduce the amount of "interesting" data to a more manageable number.
That being said, data capturing is by far NOT the most technically challenging step. Without the capability to crack modern encryption schemes like ECDH/AES/Chacha (and I don't believe anyone, and I mean ANYONE can at this moment), whatever data they captured is of very little value. So I do agree with your sentiment that intelligence gathering via this method is still very much in theoretical feasibility territory.
@@scheimong For sure it'd be absolutely mind blowing if some of these weren't practically secure today, but mind blowing accomplishments have been achieved in secret before, no?
@@StayBassd yes of course. It would be very arrogant of me to claim that any particular encryption scheme is "unbreakable"; going by the speed of technological progression in the past century, I suspect many current algorithms would likely be considered insecure within 20 years.
But the reason I think this is not too relevant with regards to submarine cables is that these encryption schemes are universally used, no matter the layer 1 medium. So submarine cables are no more or less susceptible to such attacks than for example, satellite communication. If an adversary is able to break encryption, then no form of telecommunication is secure.
Interesting topic. Thumbs up!
One suggestion: Please remove, or at least turn down the volume on the monotonous background music.
As artists say...'What does not add, detracts.' The music definitely dos not add.
As always, I'm amazed at the content quality of this channel. Great work!
Watching the two sides fighting to tap on the cables, those of us who are neither of both sides can only shout in our heart - STAY AWAY FROM MY DATA
Do keep in mind that satellite systems for Internet bypass the undersea systems.
It's incredible much many ressources and time are wasted on power struggles among nations.
By the way: What are the sources for this video? You used to share the sources more often in the past.
Excellent excellent report! Well done and extremely informative.
America trying to do shit to China is like 10th century Rome trying to tell Constantinople how to do Empire.
Remember everyone, laws are like sausages. I love your videos
one of the most detailed american propaganda channels 🎉 keep us updated! from taipei, china! ❤
It is surprising, even if it shouldn't be, that submarine cables carry the bulk of reliable, high-volume data.
On a WestPac cruise in the Navy, about all we did on a little frigate was patrol the corridor between Singapore and Japan, including the contested China Sea "claim" of today that was unquestioned US prerogative at the time. I was on a kind of odd-lot boat that typically traveled solo, also wandering over the Mariana Trench to evidently drop a long hydrophone array and collect all sorts of oceanographic data.
Either way, from the Singapore Strait northward, it was all about safeguarding the passage of oil tankers plus, I guess, the flow of information.
Oh, well: The Cold War is dead. Long live the Cold War.
The West (United States) doesn't care about poor countries. they only care if there is China there
Great video as always.
I love you! This video discusses a topic I was almost completely unaware existed!