Jed Buchanan/NSC
The ANU National Security College has launched a landmark report on Australia’s submarine cable resilience and what's needed to protect this critical infrastructure
Connected & protected: building Australia’s submarine cable resilience examines the strategic importance of Australia’s submarine cable network, the threats it faces, and the policy settings needed to strengthen national resilience.
The report, launched at University House at The Australian National University on 11 August, is authored by Dr Samuel Bashfield, Dr David Brewster, Jocelinn Kang, Mike Constable and Anthony Bergin.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Brewster said Connected & protected was the first report in the world to provide a comprehensive assessment of a national cable system.
“There are 16 submarine cables which carry around 99 per cent of Australia's international communications. These cables carry vast amounts of data that are essential for the operation of most businesses, governments and indeed for daily life,” he said.
Dr Brewster said there were major developments affecting the submarine cables industry that will impact Australia.
“There is an opportunity if we get the policy levers right, to position Australia as a key regional hub in Indo-Pacific connectivity.”
Ms Kang emphasised the role of submarine cables as cyber assets and the vulnerabilities and threats facing the network, including from cuts and disruptions, threat actors, software issues and AI.
“We know from ASIO threat assessments that there are adversaries targeting our telecommunications critical infrastructure. If we think about what has happened over the last couple of years or even weeks, we've seen outages due to software upgrades. And if we talk about the last two weeks now, we have the threat of rogue AI agents,” Ms Kang said.
“So, the threats are real, intentional or not.”
The report includes recommendations for how Australia should work with its international partners to build capacity, secure cable networks, and strengthen supply chains.
Dr Bashfield said: “It's not good enough for Australia to protect [just] its submarine cable networks, but we need to work with our partners to protect their cable networks, because essentially cables run somewhere. And if we're looking after our patch, it's simply not good enough.”
Connected & protected was researched and written under an Australian Department of Defence Strategic Policy grant.
NSC Head Professor Rory Medcalf AM connected the report's findings to the College's recent Community Consultations research, which found that Australians consider critical infrastructure to be among the most significant risks facing the nation.
“This is a wake-up call regarding questions of risks but also responsibilities across the Australian system for this vital part of our national infrastructure,” Professor Medcalf said.
Connected & protected: building Australia's submarine cable resilience is available to read in full on the NSC website.
Jed Buchanan/NSC
Jed Buchanan/NSC
Jed Buchanan/NSC
Jed Buchanan/NSC
Event Speakers
Jocelinn Kang
Jocelinn Kang is the founder and managing director of Nodalys, a boutique national security consultancy working across cyber security, geopolitical risk, and digital resilience.
Dr David Brewster
Dr David Brewster is a Senior Research Fellow with NSC, where he works on Indian Ocean and Indo Pacific maritime security.
He is also a Distinguished Research Fellow with the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne.
Dr Samuel Bashfield
Dr Samuel Bashfield is Research Fellow in Global Security at La Trobe University, where he studies geopolitical and defence trends across the Indo-Pacific. With over ten years' experience as an author, researcher, consultant and project manager, he delivers insights and dialogue on our most pressing global security challenges.
Professor Rory Medcalf
Professor Rory Medcalf AM FAIIA has been Head of the National Security College (NSC) at The Australian National University since 2015.