Submarine Cable Map

Submarine Cable Map (submarinecablemap.com) is an interactive visualization of the world's submarine internet cable infrastructure, displaying all known active and planned submarine fiber optic cables that carry the vast majority of international internet traffic.

For OSINT investigators, submarine cable infrastructure intelligence has specific applications in network analysis, sanctions compliance, and telecommunications investigation.

Internet routing intelligence from submarine cable maps reveals how international data traffic flows between continents. Understanding which cables connect specific country pairs is relevant for investigations involving internet connectivity, data sovereignty, and potential surveillance infrastructure — data flowing through specific cables is subject to the jurisdiction of the countries where the cable lands.

For sanctions compliance investigations, understanding which submarine cables connect to sanctioned countries reveals the telecommunications pathways that could be used for internet access in violation of sanctions — relevant for technology export investigations and internet service restriction compliance.

Network attribution for internet traffic originating from specific regions is informed by understanding which submarine cables provide connectivity to those regions. An internet connection from a region served by a specific cable system narrows the routing path the traffic traveled.

For threat intelligence involving state-sponsored actors, understanding the telecommunications infrastructure of specific countries helps analysts assess the plausible routing of traffic associated with threat campaigns.

Cable owner and consortium data — the telecommunications companies and national entities that own each cable — provides organizational intelligence about who controls the international internet backbone in specific regions.

The map's historical data shows when cables were commissioned, decommissioned, or damaged — incidents that temporarily redirected international traffic and are relevant to investigations covering specific historical periods.

Document specific cable systems identified, landing points, owning entities, and any capacity or routing intelligence relevant to the investigation.