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In some cases, headlines used in mainstream media reports can cause undue social unrest. Below is a fact check we conducted on a news story published with a headline claiming that, if Iran attacks an internet cable, Sri Lanka’s data will be wiped out.
Social Media Posts:
The mainstream media reported a story published in a major newspaper on Sunday, April 5, 2026, stating, “If Iran cuts an internet cable, our data stored abroad will be erased.”
The relevant news was reported by many other media channels as follows.
Accordingly, we conducted a fact-check to verify the veracity of this.
Fact Check:
Amid the escalating tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel, Iran has reportedly threatened to damage internet cables in the Red Sea, which could significantly impact internet speeds in many countries around the world, reported the Times of India.
The media further reported that Iran is threatening to launch attacks on undersea internet cables in the Red Sea, which could disrupt global connectivity, but there has been no official confirmation from Iranian authorities or major intelligence agencies.
About 17% of global internet traffic travels through these undersea fiber optic cables, which connect directly to data centers in the Middle East, such as those of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
Undersea internet cables connected to Sri Lanka
As stated on the Submarine Cable Map, Sri Lanka is connected to eight undersea internet cables. Information about these internet cables is provided below.
| Name of the cable system | The Use |
| Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) | A cable connecting Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It connects Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. |
| Bharat Lanka Cable System | A cable system directly connecting India and Sri Lanka (Colombo). |
| Dhiraagu-SLT Submarine Cable | Sri Lanka Telecom and Maldives’ Dhiragu Company are jointly operating to strengthen communication links between Sri Lanka and the Maldives. |
| FALCON | It is a long cable network stretching from India through the Middle East to Europe. It connects many countries around the world. |
| India Asia Xpress (IAX) | A modern system that connects India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Singapore for high-speed data transfer. |
| Maldives Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) | Another important cable connection runs directly between the Maldives and Sri Lanka. |
| SeaMeWe-4 | A major international cable system connecting Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe. |
| SeaMeWe-5 | A major cable system connecting Europe and Asia, more modern and with greater capacity than SeaMeWe-4. |
| SeaMeWe-6 (2027) | Currently under construction and scheduled to be operational in 2027. It is designed to provide data at very high speeds. |
Data storage and transmission are two processes.
Data storage and data transmission are two distinct processes, and IBM, one of the world’s oldest technology companies in information technology, computer hardware, software, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, has explained data storage as follows. Data storage is defined as magnetic, optical or mechanical media that records and preserves digital information for future use.
Advantage, an IT consultancy, explains the issue of undersea internet cables as follows: While data is physically stored in data centers such as Singapore or Amazon (AWS), submarine cables are only used to build the connection between these data centers and the person accessing the data.
Companies like Amazon (AWS) don’t just store data in one place.
Companies like Amazon (AWS) do not store data in only one place. They use data redundancy and backups. Cloud services like Amazon (AWS) or Google Cloud follow the Multi-AZ (Availability Zones) method, and they have a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan specifically designed for disaster situations. Even if the cables in one country are cut, the data can be accessed through servers in another region. Amazon has explained this as follows.
The internet is not connected to the world through a single cable, and if one cable breaks, internet traffic automatically reroutes through another cable. This may slow down internet speeds, but the data is not affected.
Recent cases of internet cables being cut in the Red Sea
Recently, several internet cables in the Red Sea were severed, and while the speed of internet services was only reduced in those cases, there were no reports of any customer data being lost.
Ministry of Digital Economy
When we inquired about this, the Media Secretary to the Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, after confirming this with the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SLCERT), stated to us that if Iran attacks the internet cables in the Red Sea, it will not result in the deletion of data stored in the country or in other countries’ data warehouses. However, she noted that if the cables are damaged, there could be disruptions to internet access in this country, as well as in many other countries, which could result in restrictions on data access.
We contacted the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Forum for further information on this matter, and they confirmed the above facts. They stated that data is not lost through the Red Sea internet cable, and that if the cable is damaged, it could cause disruptions to internet access in many countries.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that if the internet cables in the Red Sea were to be damaged amid the escalating conflicts in the Middle East, it would have a significant impact on internet speeds in many countries, but it would not erase data stored in other countries. Data storage and transmission are distinct processes, and since these cables are used only for the transmission of data stored in data centers, there is no risk of data being erased simply because the cables are damaged.
Title: Would an Iran attack on an undersea internet cable erase Sri Lankan data stored abroad?
Fact Check By: Pavithra Hansani
Result: Misleading
