Recent events in the Baltic Sea have caused quite a stir, with two internet cables connecting Sweden and Finland suffering damage. One cable was damaged by construction, while the other is still under investigation.

The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) reported that the cable breaks occurred on land in Finland, affecting approximately a hundred businesses and six thousand homes. Initially, Swedish authorities suspected sabotage, but Finnish police denied any ongoing criminal investigation regarding the cable break.

While accidents like these are not uncommon and typically do not have a significant global impact, the timing of this incident, coming just weeks after two undersea internet cables were cut in the Baltic Sea, has raised concerns about the vulnerability of communication cables and the potential for chaos in the global internet.

Although the damaged cables are not directly related to the tensions between Russia and NATO, the incident has prompted discussions about cybersecurity and the importance of undersea cables. It has also highlighted the ease with which terrestrial cables can be damaged, as evidenced by previous incidents, such as an elderly woman in Georgia accidentally cutting a fiber optic cable while scavenging for copper.