Nordics subsea cable attacks: Report calls for regional defence

Rising geopolitical tensions and increasingly sophisticated digital threats mean a coordinated approach to security in the Nordic regions is vital, it says in a report out on October 30. 

The report says subsea cables are ‘a hidden lifeline’ rather than simply a technical asset, carrying 99% of internet traffic between continents to form ‘a functional backbone of global digital life and supporting everything from financial systems and government communications’.

Resilience on subsea cables, it says, cannot be built overnight – but critical infrastructure ‘is now a strategic battleground’, with cables, mobile networks and the cloud infrastructure they enable prime targets for attacks.

Telenor referenced two serious incidents last year, when the C-Lion 1 cable between Finland and Germany and the BCS East-West Interlink were damaged within days of each other with signs of sabotage. And it’s not just cables: in 2022 the Nord Stream pipeline was damaged and sabotage was not ruled out.

A regional problem calls for regional collaboration, Telenor believes, and applauded the European Union’s Action Plan on Submarine Cable Security in February 2025, which encompassed four pillars: Prevention; Detection; Response & Repair; and Deterrence. It called for investment in smarter, redundant cables, an EU reserve fleet of repair vessels and infrastructure upgrades. It also called for cross-border cooperation.

In an open letter to the EU, UK and NATO, Telenor calls for ‘harmonised approaches across borders’ and joint surveillance and investment in detection and rapid repair technologies, supported through strong public-private partnerships’.

“It requires long-term investment, preparedness and coordination between governments and industry. The Nordic countries already have strong national security and preparedness systems, but a crisis doesn’t care about borders,” says Sigvart Voss Eriksen, EVP & Head of Telenor Nordics.

“To protect our critical functions, we must act as a region. That means predictable funding, aligned frameworks and operations, so that we can prepare and respond together when it matters most.”