If Russia were to cut some of the fiber optic cables that connect the internet around the world, it likely wouldn’t be as catastrophic as many imagine the scenario to be.
“If somebody knew how these systems worked and if they staged an attack in the right way, then they could disrupt the entire system,” Nicole Starosielski, a professor at New York University and expert in the topic told Wired. “But the likelihood of that happening is very small. Most of the concerns and fears are not nearly a threat at all.”
Wired reports that while the prospect of the “global internet going dark” may sound frightening, ruptured internet cables happen more often than consumers think — if your cell phone were connected to a suddenly destroyed cable, it would jump to the next line, uninterrupted. And even if every single cable were cut — across both the Atlantic and the Pacific — domestic communication would still exist.
“You can still email people in the US if all submarine cables were gone,” market research firm director Alan Mauldin told Wired. “But people in Europe wouldn’t see your silly cat video you posted on your Facebook profile.”
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