Jonas Franken, research associate at the PEASEC research group of TU Darmstadt, was interviewed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) about the threat to and protection of submarine cables. He emphasized that acts of suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea are on the rise, their damages posing a serious risk to this critical maritime infrastructure.
The European Union has responded to these hybrid theats with a new Action Plan on Cable Security, focusing on four key areas: prevention, detection, response & repair, and deterrence. Measures include investments in new cables to enhance redundancy, an improved monitoring system using satellites and drones, and faster repair capacities. A key goal is the creation of an EU Cable Vessels Reserve Fleet, as current repair operations often face long delays due to the limited availability of specialized ships.
In general, the EU’s Plan of Action is comprehensive and covers many areas of potential actions. However, Jonas also pointed out significant challenges: establishing a state-funded repair fleet could disrupt the commercial market, and new sensor technologies embedded in cables might turn them into military targets. He stressed the importance of efficiently analyzing vast amounts of sensor data to quickly identify real threats.
The full interview is available in Sunday’s FAS and online (paywall).
See also:
- Jonas Franken, Thomas Reinhold, Timon Dörnfeld, Christian Reuter (2025) Hidden structures of a global infrastructure: Expansion factors of the subsea data cable network, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 215, 124068, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124068.
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Jonas Franken, Christian Reuter (2024) The Subsea Data Cable Security Map – Fusing Public Information for Enhanced Critical Maritime Infrastructure Security (2024), MARESEC 2024, 10.5281/zenodo.14216269
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Jonas Franken, Franziska Schneider, Christian Reuter (2023) The Internet’s Plumbing Consists of Garden Hoses: A Critical Analysis of the Advantages and Pitfalls of Metaphors Use for Critical Maritime Infrastructures, Dreizack 23 Kiel. [Download PDF]
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Jonas Franken, Thomas Reinhold, Lilian Reichert, Christian Reuter (2022) The Digital Divide in State Vulnerability to Submarine Communications Cable Failure International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection (IJCIP) ;38(100522):1–15. doi:10.1016/j.ijcip.2022.100522 [Download PDF]
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Christian Bueger, Tobias Liebetrau, Jonas Franken (2022) Security threats to undersea communications cables and infrastructure – consequences for the EU Brussels: European Parliament. [Download PDF]