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NATO tests satellite internet as backup to sabotaged undersea cables

As apparent acts of sabotage cut undersea data cables around the world, NATO held its first demonstration of a project to quickly reroute crucial communications to satellite internet

By Jeremy Hsu

16 January 2025

A satellite orbits the planet

Shutterstock / Andrei Armiagov

Over the past couple years, undersea cables from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean have been severed in apparent acts of sabotage. Now a NATO-backed project has shown how to quickly re-establish the most critical communications using satellites.

The first demonstration of the $2.5 million HEIST project – short for Hybrid Space-submarine Architecture Ensuring Infosec of Telecommunications – took place in Sweden on 16 January. This test simulated how software can swiftly match outgoing data communications with available satellite internet providers, such as SpaceX’s Starlink and Viasat.

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