Google is accused of jeopardizing national security through a YouTube video that promotes a new transatlantic Internet cable.
Video of the exact location on Cornwall beach where tech giant ‘Grace Hopper,’ a 3,000-mile-long cable, arrives ashore shows that it has been viewed over 4,600 times.
It can also be accessed via an open manhole in a car park on the beach, which makes it a target for terrorists and spies.
Video of the exact location on Cornwall beach where tech giant ‘Grace Hopper,’ a 3,000-mile-long cable, arrives ashore, and then heads inland, has been watched more than 4,600.
The disclosure comes amid increasing concern about the fragility of the fiber-optic subsea cables between America and Europe which transport up to 99% of Britain’s internet and telephone traffic.
Admiral Tony Radakin of the UK’s Armed forces warned this month about the danger of Russian submarines cutting vital cables.
The Grace Hopper cable linking New York and Cornwall, named after an American computer science pioneer, will dramatically boost Britain’s internet capacity, allowing 17.5 million people to view ultra-high-definition videos simultaneously. Lloyds Bank and the UK Government are among those who will use this cable.
Although the cable is expected to be operational by late this year, a YouTube video from the company uploaded in November contains drone footage which clearly shows the route of cable below a beach.
Workmen can be seen in this video digging a trench into the sand to carry the cable through a row beach huts with brightly-colored roofs, and onto a nearby parking lot.
A Mail on Sunday reporter used the video to locate the cable and discovered that a manhole cover – clearly marked as housing a ‘cable’ – provides access to the Grace Hopper in the beach car park, which has no barrier and 24-hour access.
Natasha Livingstone from Mail on Sunday used the video as a reference to track the cable. A manhole cover allowed access to Grace Hopper at the beach car parking.
Although the manhole cover didn’t appear to be fitted with anti-tamper seals last night, Google claims it did use locked manhole covers.
Sam Armstrong, the Henry Jackson Society’s director of communications, stated that these cables would carry all information, from stocks market trades to government data. Their sensitivity to adversaries should be obvious.
“Google’s disclosure of the unguarded location cables is not just corporately irresponsible but a possible national security threat.
Google spokesperson said that sharing subsea cable landing locations is “standard practice” in the industry. He added: “Grace Hopper has not yet been in service. Therefore, what was observed in construction may not reflect the level of security in operation during live operations.