How will UK’s economy and emergency services respond if undersea cables are attacked? Committee examines national resilience
On Monday 9 June, the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy continues its inquiry into undersea cables with a session exploring the UK’s national resilience in the event of severe disruption.
Meeting details
The Committee is examining the UK’s ability to withstand co-ordinated attacks in the event of heightened political tension.
What would happen if the UK’s undersea cable network – carrying 99% of our data to the outside world – were severely disrupted? How would our key industries and emergency services respond? How long would it take to recover, and how much of this is accounted for in national resilience planning?
According to the European Subsea Cables Association, while there is strong resilience in the cable system, prolonged outages could lead to economic losses and extensive challenges for critical national infrastructure.
In the first panel, MPs are likely to ask how different core sectors of the UK economy, including financial services and telecommunications, would be affected. How would payment systems or access to ‘.com’ internet domains work?
They will also ask senior emergency services leaders how their operations could be affected, and whether there is any potential for this leading to long-term problems or public disorder.
In the second panel, MPs will ask cable industry executives for their view on the industry’s level of resilience, their ability to respond to severe disruption, commercial incentives to improve resilience, and wider options including sovereign repair ships.