Connectivity is a vital element in commerce and digital growth, leading to an increased reliance on undersea cable infrastructure, which can present major national and economic security risks. The security, resilience, and integrity of undersea cables is thus critical.
On 27 September 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“MFA“) announced that Singapore had endorsed principles for a shared global approach to ensure the security, reliability, interoperability, sustainability, and resiliency for the deployment, repair and maintenance of undersea cable infrastructure. This includes communication cables and any elements related to their construction, operation, surveillance, maintenance and repair.
The principles include the following:
- Designing undersea cable infrastructure and services with resilience, redundancy, and security (including cybersecurity) in mind;
- Seeking closer government and industry coordination for supporting responsible undersea cable deployment, maintenance, and repair;
- Encouraging undersea cable network service providers, as well as operations and maintenance providers, to have transparent ownership, partnerships, and corporate governance structures;
- Considering security risk assessments regularly across the cable lifecycle;
- Promoting data risk mitigation frameworks and data security measures; and
- Complying with applicable international law, domestic law, and industry best practices.
Other endorsers include the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Japan, and Republic of Korea.
Click on the following link for more information:
- MFA Press Statement titled “Joint Statement on the Security and Resilience of Undersea Cables in a Globally Digitalized World” (available on the MFA website at www.mfa.gov.sg)