Internet disrupted in India, Pakistan, Middle East, parts of Europe; cables in Red Sea feared broken

Microsoft said its Azure users may experience increased delay.

New Delhi: A series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries, claimed NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the Internet.

Cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia affected

It specifically named India and Pakistan among those affected, blaming “failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”

Meanwhile, tech giant Microsoft also confirmed that its Azure cloud service experienced disruptions, warning users of “increased latency” on routes passing through the Middle East.

Microsoft update

According to a status update from Microsoft, its Azure users may experience increased latency, particularly for traffic originating in or terminating in the Asia and Europe regions.

“Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair; as such, we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime. We’ll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change,” Microsoft said.

Houthi attacks on Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been constantly targeting the cargo and merchant ships passing through the Red Sea, which they describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past.

Undersea cables are one of the backbones of the internet, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Typically, internet service providers have multiple access points and reroute traffic if one fails, though it can slow down access for users.

Internet disruption in India and Pakistan

The disruption was linked to failures in the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SMW4), managed by Tata Communications, and the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE), which is operated by a consortium led by Alcatel-Lucent.

Pakistan Telecommunications Co. Ltd., a telecommunication giant in the country, noted that the cuts had taken place in a statement on Saturday, September 6.

UAE’s internet connectivity affected

Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the disruption, and authorities there did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), housing metropolises like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users on the country’s state-owned Du and Etisalat networks complained of slower internet speeds.

Subsea cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships, but can also be targeted in attacks. It can take weeks for repairs as they have to be located first and then carry out the repair work.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The internet has been disrupted in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East as cables in the Red Sea are feared to be broken.
• A series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries.
• It specifically named India and Pakistan among those affected, blaming cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Meanwhile, tech giant Microsoft also confirmed that its Azure cloud service experienced disruptions.

According to a status update from Microsoft, its Azure users may experience increased latency, particularly for traffic originating in or terminating in the Asia and Europe regions. “Undersea fibre cuts can take time to repair; as such, we will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimise routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime. We’ll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change,” Microsoft said.