Startup wants to mitigate risk of state-actor underwater fibre optic cable sabotage by using a decades-old technique

• Distributed acoustic sensing detects disturbances in fibre optic signals to identify underwater threats
• NATO’s ‘Baltic Sentry’ mission enhances subsea security, but surveillance remains difficult
• AP Sensing’s North Sea deployment highlights fibre optics’ role in security

Subsea fibre optic cables are a crucial part of global internet infrastructure, yet recent damage incidents in the Baltic Sea have raised concerns about their security.

Per the BBC, there are now efforts to mitigate the risk of sabotage by using a decades-old technique known as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS).

This approach detects disturbances in fibre optic signals by capturing tiny reflections sent back along the strands due to pulses from light encountering vibrations or temperature changes, allowing the system to identify suspicious activity such as underwater drones, vessels dragging anchors, or divers near critical cables.

How fibre optics can 'listen' for threats

As with network ...