SYDNEY – Australia and countries across the Indo-Pacific face a growing threat of attacks on submarine cables that could devastate their economies, and they should take urgent steps such as improving their monitoring and repair capabilities, says a new report from Australia.

The report, by the National Security College at the Australian National University (ANU) and partly funded by Australia’s Department of Defence, warns that submarine cables face “growing threats from state and non-state adversaries”.

Released on Aug 10, it also warns that potential consequences of a disruption to the cables are becoming more severe in Australia due to the country’s growing reliance on digital connectivity.

About 99 per cent of Australia’s international connectivity flows through submarine cables, with most of the remainder carried by satellites.

“Major disruptions to submarine cables can have immediate and severe economic impacts, disrupting financial markets, halting international trade, and severing cloud-based services,” the report says.

“Australia lacks a comprehensive strategy to properly protect and govern its submarine cable networks,” the report says, urging the country to ensure that it can swiftly repair cables and have priority access to repair capabilities.

The report says that there have been multiple apparent attacks on submarine cables in recent years in European waters as well as near Taiwan, suspected to be linked to Russia and China.

The cables connecting Taiwan with its Matsu Islands, near China’s mainland, were severed 27 tim...