Red Sea Cable Damage Causes Major Internet Outages Across Asia and Middle East

According to internet observer NetBlocks, damage to subsea cable infrastructure in the Red Sea caused extensive interruptions for internet users in India, Pakistan, and areas of the Middle East. The disruption has brought attention to how vulnerable the world’s digital infrastructure is, as it is mostly dependent on underwater cables for connectivity.

Reuters claims that the outage’s effects extended beyond South Asia. Online service access issues were also observed by users in the United Arab Emirates, especially for those utilising the Etisalat and Du networks.

NetBlocks verified the interruptions and linked the issue to cable infrastructure malfunctions close to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Possible Causes of Red Sea Cable Damage

However, it is still unclear what or who damaged the subsea cables. Unintentional anchor drags, natural disasters, or, in rare instances, deliberate sabotage are frequently blamed for such outages. A sizable amount of the world’s internet traffic is carried by undersea fiber-optic cables, which are primarily concentrated in the Red Sea region.

Authorities in the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait also reported that the FALCON GCX cable that crosses the Red Sea had been severed. A vital component of the worldwide internet infrastructure, submarine cables are susceptible to intentional attacks or ship anchors. It usually takes weeks to repair, and specialised vessels are needed to find and repair the damage.

The disturbance occurs as Houthi rebels in Yemen continue their attacks connected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Although there has been increased conjecture regarding their involvement in attacking submerged infrastructure, the group has denied any prior accountability.

Microsoft Diverted its Internet Traffic

Microsoft, a multinational technology giant, said that one of the services impacted by the event was its cloud computing platform, Azure. Microsoft warned in a statement that “multiple undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea” may result in greater latency for Azure users.

According to Reuters, Microsoft has rerouted traffic via other routes outside of the Middle East in order to lessen the impact. The business explained that other international services are unaffected, even if internet traffic passing through the area can experience delays. According to Microsoft, the business does anticipate certain traffic that has previously passed through the Middle East to have higher delay. There is no effect on network traffic that does not pass through the Middle East.

Since undersea cable systems are the foundation of international internet services, the event highlights growing worries about their security and upkeep. Businesses, cloud services, and individual users can all be impacted by outages in these networks, according to experts, which can spread across countries. Maintaining the reliability of these vital infrastructure systems is now more important than ever due to the growing reliance on cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.