The government has announced plans to better protect the UK's undersea cables and pipelines from hostile threats.
Plans include tougher prison sentences and unlimited fines on ship owners that damage critical national infrastructure.
The fibre-optic cables running along the seabed carry around 99 per cent the UK's international data and underpin everything from messages and video calls to online banking and shopping.
The fibre-optic cables running along the seabed carry around 99 per cent the UK's international data and underpin everything from messages and video calls to online banking and shopping.
The UK's energy supply is also dependent on undersea infrastructure, with undersea pipelines providing 74% of the UK’s gas supply and undersea electricity cables providing vital supply from Europe and the UK’s offshore wind sector.
The government has published a White Paper which sets out proposals to update the 140-year-old legislation to give the UK stronger tools to protect its critical undersea infrastructure. As well as tougher penalties for saboteurs, subsea telecoms companies would be required to comply with new security and resilience duties, including stronger face tougher duties including stronger requirements to identify and manage risks to their networks.
The Government would also gain new powers to require telecoms providers to take steps to protect cables from threats such as sabotage or espionage, alongside new safeguards for fibre optic sensing technology, which can detect activity at sea but could pose national security risks if sensitive data fell into the wrong hands.
Telecoms Minister Ian Murray said: “Undersea cables are the hidden backbone of modern Britain, carrying the data we rely on every day to message friends and family, do our banking, and run our businesses.
“The threats we face have changed dramatically, with suspicious Russian activity around critical undersea infrastructure, yet some of the laws protecting these vital connections date back more than a century.
“We intend to modernise those laws with tougher penalties, stronger requirements on industry and new powers to protect our national security, making sure the UK’s critical infrastructure is fit for the threats of today and tomorrow.”
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “Undersea cables carry the energy and data our country relies on every day. Protecting them is vital to our national security.
“We’re toughening the law to stay ahead of those who seek to do us harm. Those who deliberately or recklessly damage our undersea infrastructure will face tougher penalties, including longer prison sentences and unlimited fines.
“These measures are part of the work underway across government to protect our critical infrastructure and keep our country safe.”
