# Submarine Cables Carry More Than 99% of Global Data Flows

By Simon Yoon

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/31769
Published: 2026-10-14T12:10:09.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-14T12:10:09.000Z
Section: Technology

> Author Elisabeth Braw’s book examines risks to undersea infrastructure as routine damage and geopolitical tensions complicate investigations into cable disruptions.

Submarine cables carry more than 99% of international data flows, making disruptions to the undersea network a concern for communications, finance and other services. Author Elisabeth Braw’s book Undersea War examines the risks facing those links as geopolitical tensions sharpen.

More than 200 cable repairs were recorded worldwide in 2023, an average of more than three per week. Accidental or unintentional damage affects an estimated 150 to 200 cables worldwide each year, with fishing activity the leading human cause. Storms and other natural hazards can also damage cables, so a fault alone does not establish sabotage.

Recent cases show the difficulty of determining what caused an outage. In December 2024, Finnish authorities reported four telecommunications cables out of service alongside a disruption to the EstLink 2 power interconnector. They suspected the tanker Eagle S of causing damage; that suspicion does not establish intent.

In Taiwan, the Tainan District Court sentenced the captain of the Hong Tai 58 to three years in prison on June 12, 2025, in a case involving damage to the Taiwan-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable.

Braw said the network relies on operators behaving responsibly on the seabed and questioned how long that system would hold. “It worked for so long, and that’s why it’s so frightening to see that system that really depends on everybody doing the right thing and being a good seabed citizen, as it were, may not work for that much longer.”