- The HEIST project wants to mitigate the physical sabotage of submarine cables
- HEIST expected to use laser optics instead of radio
- Exabytes of data flow on more than 1 million kilometers of fiber around the world
NATO is reportedly developing a satellite-based backup for global Internet communications to address vulnerabilities exposed by recent undersea cable outages.
The project, known as HEIST (Hybrid Space Submarine Architecture Ensuring Telecommunications Information Security), comes in response to the February 2024 incident when the cargo ship Rubymar, hit by a Houthi missile attack, dragged its anchor along the bottom of the Red Sea, cutting three fiber optic cables.
a report of IEEE Spectrum claims that these cables carried approximately a quarter of all Internet traffic between Europe and Asia, forcing data to be rerouted and highlighting the fragile nature of global Internet infrastructure.
Ready for testing
More than 95% of intercontinental Internet traffic depends on submarine fiber optic cables, and more than 1.2 million kilometers extend across the planet. These thin cables lie unburied on the seabed, making them vulnerable to accidental damage and sabotage.
The Rubymar incident was unintentional, but Western officials have evidence of deliberate sabotage of the undersea cable by state actors, such as Russia and China. NATO has already announced plans to prevent this from happening in the future using underwater drones.
HEIST aims to address these threats by ensuring that critical Internet paths remain operational even when fiber lines are compromised.
The project has two key objectives: to quickly detect cable damage and precisely locate breaks, and to expand the ability to reroute data through alternative channels, including satellites. The focus will be on diverting high-priority data to satellites, reducing reliance on vulnerable seafloor cables.
The project will begin testing in 2025 at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden. Researchers from several countries, including the US, Sweden, Iceland and Switzerland, will work to develop faster breakage detection systems, capable of identifying damage with an accuracy of up to one meter.
Researchers will also explore satellite-based security systems using higher bandwidth laser optics, which can transmit much more data than current satellite radio systems.
While satellite throughput is limited compared to fiber, the HEIST team is focusing on expanding bandwidth through technologies such as infrared lasers, which are already used on Starlink satellites.
Although there is currently no single solution, NATO’s goal is to create a diverse and resilient network that ensures secure global communications in emergencies.
