2022年1月，洪阿汤加—洪阿帕伊火山以核弹般的力量喷发，火山灰羽流几乎冲到60公里高空；65公里外的汤加因连接外界的唯一海底电缆被海底雪崩扯断而陷入寂静。由于卫星备份系统订阅已到期且在断网下无法续订，短信联络、银行业务、医院病历传输与飞行导航都受到冲击。

作者指出，“虚拟”世界依赖铺在海底的约140万公里光纤电缆，这些“瘦弱、无防护”的线缆不比花园水管粗，却承载全球99%的互联网流量。电缆线路与帝国时代电报线路在地图上惊人相似，部分因历史政治原因，部分因既有路线被证明更安全、可避开礁石与地震活动，而且铺设与维修由少数公司完成。

电缆既可能被锚链误伤或被故意切断，也可能被潜水员从潜艇上进行窃听；美国不允许本国公司使用与中国有关联的铺缆船，也不允许来自中国的电缆登陆其海岸。中国则声称有权监督整个南海的铺设与维护（不止其领海），而2023年台湾马祖列岛也因中国船只“意外”割断电缆而断网，显示这一长期跨国协作行业正沿地缘政治线分裂并伴随寡头化风险；这本书共128页，定价18美元与12.99英镑。

In January 2022, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcano erupted with the force of a nuclear bomb, sending an ash plume nearly 60 km into the sky; Tonga, 65 km away, fell silent when its sole undersea cable was snapped by an underwater avalanche. With a satellite-backup subscription lapsed and impossible to renew without internet access, texting, banking, hospital record transfers, and flight navigation all broke down.

The argument is that the “virtual” world rests on about 1.4 million km of fibre-optic cables on the ocean floor—“scrawny, unprotected” lines no fatter than a garden hose—that carry 99% of global internet traffic. Cable maps still resemble imperial-era telegraph routes partly for historical and political reasons and partly because proven paths avoid rocks and seismic zones, while a handful of firms lay and repair them.

Cables can be damaged by anchors or cut deliberately, and they can be tapped by divers operating from submarines; America bars China-linked cable ships and Chinese landings on its shores. China claims oversight of laying and maintenance across the South China Sea (not just its territorial waters), and a 2023 blackout in Taiwan’s Matsu islands followed Chinese vessels “accidentally” severing a cable, signalling splintering and oligopoly risk in a once-collaborative industry; the book is 128 pages and costs $18 and £12.99.

Source: The internet’s vulnerable undersea tendrils

Subtitle: A new book examines the various threats to subsea cables

Dateline: 12月 30, 2025 05:49 上午