The Most Vulnerable Place on the Internet

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, said that Egypt has become one of the internet's most prominent chokepoints. The location contributes to the concentration of cables. The longest underwater route between Asia and Europe is passing through the Red Sea. It is safer for intercontinental internet cables to be placed at the bottom of the sea because it is harder for them to be disrupted or snooped upon.

One of the only practical routes is going through Egypt. One cable that travels above Russia is the only one that goes to the south. Madory says that every time someone attempts to draw up an alternative route, they end up going through Syria or Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan. Madory says that the JADI cable system was shut down because of the civil war in Syria. In March of this year another cable was severed because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Around the Red Sea, there is disruption as well. There have been a lot of cable cuts in the Red Sea due to its shallowness. Three people were arrested in Egypt for cutting internet cables. In the same year, other nearby cables had problems. Around the world, there are other cable choke points. The Strait of Malacca, near Singapore, is one of the chokepoints on the internet. Thomas thinks that the Malacca Strait is not as bad as Egypt.

The number of cables in one place can be considered a single point of failure. Multiple cables passing through the Red Sea are not cheap. You want networks to connect to each other and that's why concentration is important. You have to balance that with the need to have different routes.

Telecom Egypt, the country's main internet provider, is involved when the submarine cables go above land. Cable owners are charged for running cables. There is variation in the way the cables are spread out because they don't go in the canal.

It gives Egypt a lot of power. According to an unnamed industry source, Telecom Egypt charges extortionate fees for its services. Telecom Egypt, Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority didn't reply to WIRED's request for comment

There are cable ties.

Subsea cables are easy to damage. There are more than 100 incidents where the cables are damaged. Most of these are caused by shipping. Concerns have been raised about sabotage in recent months. Governments around the world have pledged to better protect underwater infrastructure. Russia has been accused of monitoring cables landing in the country.

The internet is built on resilience Taking down large parts of the internet is difficult. Multiple cables are used by companies that send data through the internet. Traffic is eventually diverted through other cables if one fails. Cuts can have devastating impacts in areas where there is only one cable. Billions of dollars have been spent on their own internet cables in the last few years.