The UK government has published a White Paper proposing to replace the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885 with modern offences and security duties to protect the subsea cables, electricity interconnectors, and pipelines that carry about 99% of the UK’s international data traffic. The proposals follow warnings about Russian activity around undersea infrastructure and are now open for consultation.
Key points
- New tiered offences: up to 14 years in prison for intentional damage, up to 10 years for reckless damage, and up to two years for gross negligence, each with unlimited fines.
- The offences would cover those who use proxies, such as vessels acting for a hostile state, closing a legal “grey zone”.
- New duties for telecoms and cable operators to identify and manage risks to their infrastructure.
- Government powers to direct cable owners and repair providers on national security grounds.
- Consultation responses are invited until 14 January 2027.
The direct duties fall on cable owners, operators, and repair providers, but every organisation relies on international connectivity. This is a good prompt to check that business continuity plans consider the loss of an international route or cloud region, and that key suppliers can say how they would keep services running (ISO/IEC 27001 controls A.5.30 and A.8.14).
Source: GOV.UK
This update is general information, not legal advice. If you would like help assessing the impact on your information security or privacy programme, contact us.
