Shark Eats Vietnam’s Internet

Faults in Vietnam’s internet have been occurring for the past few months due to ruptures in the submerged Asia-America Gateway (AAG), essentially a big underwater cable that connects the US with Southeast Asia. The most recent rupture was so bad that it disrupted internet services across the country, throttling speeds and disrupting connections. The cause of these ruptures was a mystery, until now.

As Martin Anderson, tech journalist for The Stack, reports, “AAG’s trans-Pacific enemy is thought by some to be the dangerous but fairly apolitical shark, attracted by the electromagnetic field that the cable generates,” and that the behaviour of the toothy aquatic predators has “[inspired] Google to shield its own Pacific cabling with ‘bullet-proof vest’ material Kevlar.”

Source: Science Alert