The C-Lion1 submarine cable links Finland and Germany across the Baltic Sea.
Finnish authorities have reported a fault on the C-Lion1 undersea data cable connecting Finland and Germany, according to the Associated Press.
The nearly 1,200-kilometer cable runs beneath the Baltic Sea from Helsinki to Rostock. A disruption was detected by technicians at Cinia, a Finnish state-owned data services provider, during a routine Monday morning check.
A Cinia spokesperson stated to Finnish media that all fiber connections are severed and the cause is under investigation, adding that such breaks in these waters rarely occur without external influence.
Samuli Bergstrom, head of the Cybersecurity Center at Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), told broadcaster Yle that Finland’s internet traffic is being rerouted via alternative cables. He noted that such disruptions are occasional, often due to weather or shipping-related damage.
Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) told Yle that determining the cause is premature, noting the occurrence of roughly 200 global undersea cable breaks annually.
A SUPO spokesperson indicated that human activity, such as fishing or anchoring, is the most common cause of cable damage.
Following an October 2023 incident damaging an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, initial accusations against Russia were later refuted by an investigation attributing the damage to a Chinese cargo ship’s anchor.
Commissioned in 2016 to enhance Finland’s data connection to Central Europe, the C-Lion1 cable runs near the Nord Stream pipelines, which formerly transported natural gas from Russia to Germany. Three of the four Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged in September 2022; the fourth remains unactivated due to German certification refusal.
Responsibility for the pipeline explosions remains unclaimed. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has implicated the US and Norway. Several Western publications have alleged Ukrainian involvement, with varying degrees of implication of the Kyiv government.