We take the internet for granted—until it stops working. Earlier this month, reports emerged that a Red Sea Cable had been damaged, causing connectivity disruptions in several regions. With Microsoft reporting at the time that the incident had affected its Azure customers in the region. An Azure status update warned “Starting at 05:45 UTC on 06 September 2025, network traffic traversing through the Middle East may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.”
While subsea cables rarely make headlines, they carry the vast majority of global internet traffic, and when they’re disrupted, the ripple effects are immediate and tangible. From Shetland to Los Angeles, recent incidents remind us just how vulnerable these critical arteries are.
Damage to subsea infrastructure isn’t just a technical inconvenience, it can strike at the heart of modern business operations. Earlier this year, Spectrum confirmed that a fibre optic outage in Los Angeles was caused by a criminal act of vandalism. In the UK, Shetland experienced internet outages when a subsea cable was damaged, ScotRail ticketing systems went offline due to network issues, and EE and BT both reported temporary service disruptions. These events highlight a sobering reality: connectivity failures can result from accidents, environmental factors, or increasingly, deliberate acts.
For businesses, the implications are clear. In an era where digital operations underpin everything from finance to transport to communication, a single point of failure can be catastrophic. Relying solely on one network connection or one carrier is no longer safe. Redundancy, diversity, and backup paths are essential for resilience. Distributed network designs that include multiple carriers, alternate routes, and intelligent failover systems can prevent a minor incident from turning into a full-scale business disruption.
Even for home based workers, connectivity resilience matters. Simple solutions like 4G routers or mobile dongles can provide an immediate fallback if primary broadband goes down, ensuring business continuity and keeping remote teams online. Companies such as Amazon, Netgear, Vodafone and Eero all offer back up solutions. Failing this, a mobile phone can be activated as a temporary ‘hotspot’ broadcasting its internet connectivity to other local devices to use.
Whilst these solutions are not substitutes for enterprise-grade network redundancy, these backups can prevent lost productivity during unexpected outages, giving remote workers a safety net until the main connection is restored.
Criminals and vandals may now see internet backbones as high-value targets, but nature and human error are just as potent. Undersea cables are vulnerable to fishing trawlers, ship anchors, and extreme weather, while terrestrial fiber can be accidentally severed or maliciously tampered with. The lesson is that the backbone of the internet, once considered invisible and untouchable, is a critical infrastructure that demands proactive protection.
Practical Tips for Resilient Connectivity
• Diversify Your Connections – Avoid reliance on a single carrier/cable route. Multiple paths reduce risk.
• Use Redundant Infrastructure – Implement failover servers, alternate routing, and backup data centers.
• Monitor Continuously – Real-time network monitoring helps detect issues before they escalate.
• Plan for Emergencies – Have a tested incident response plan that includes alternate connectivity options
The good news is that businesses don’t have to leave their connectivity to chance. By working with providers who offer diverse, secure, and resilient network architectures, organisations can mitigate the risk of downtime and maintain seamless operations. Whether it’s protecting high-volume transaction systems, remote offices, or cloud-based applications, planning for connectivity resilience is no longer optional – it’s essential.
At vXtream, we specialise in helping organisations design and deploy robust, redundant network solutions. Our team ensures you have multiple routes, carriers, and failover strategies in place so your business stays online, even when incidents strike the wider internet.
Don’t wait for the next outage to disrupt your operations—speak with our network experts today and secure your digital backbone: vXtream Network Services
Image by Franziska Stier from Pixabay
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