Ben Lane, CIPRE event manager, met Johanna Karvonen, the VIGIMARE Project Coordinator and R&D Specialist in Security Research at Laurea University of Applied Sciences.
The European submarine network is a vital Critical Infrastructure (CI) for the EU member states. This submarine cable and pipeline network is crucial for European society and any failure or damage to it could potentially have an enormous effect on the societies in the EU member states.
The VIGIMARE project takes a systematic approach to strengthen the European CI sector of submarine telecommunication cables, power cables and gas pipelines. The analysis as well as the VIGIMARE system will support the CIOs of the submarine network by enhancing their resilience against attacks and damages.
Ben Lane:
Thank you for joining us today for our 15-minute CIPRE interview. We also look forward to your presentation in our Maritime & Port Sector Symposium at Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience Europe 2025 (https://www.cipre-expo.com/) being held in Brindisi, Italy October 14-16.
To get us acquainted, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Johanna Karvonen:
Thank you for having me in this interview. I have a long history working with internationally funded research projects, EU-funded. I have worked in universities my whole career, both as a back-office grant writer, writing projects, and now leading projects. More recently I have been working with civil security-related projects, resilient critical infrastructures, border management, and hybrid threats. I am based out of the Laurea University of Applied Science in southern Finland, in the Helsinki region.
Ben Lane:
Can you provide a brief overview of the VIGIMARE project and what challenges you may face for its duration up to August 2027?
Johanna Karvonen:
We are developing a system known as the Virtual Control Room, which serves as a surveillance tool designed for use by critical infrastructure owners. This includes entities such as cable operators, pipeline owners, and regulatory authorities responsible for security in border and maritime regions. This tool provides the user with a situational awareness picture so they can follow what is happening on the surface and below the surface. It also will give warnings if there is an anomaly. We can report if a vessel is slowing down over a submarine pipeline or cable, or if their navigation changes or if there is anything that would lead us to think that something is happening to the submarine critical infrastructure network.
This tool also enables secure information sharing. So, critical owners and operators can share information about what is going on with their network, with each other and with authorities.
Finally, there is also a possibility to use this tool with virtual reality. So, if there is an incident, users can go in by using virtual reality and react and ensure there is a proper response.
Ben Lane:
What are the objectives of the project during and after it comes to its end in August 2027?
Johanna Karvonen:
The main objectives and aims of the project are to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure owners and operators. Our responsibility is to prevent damage, protect, respond to, and recover from any incidents affecting the submarine cable network. Our goal is to develop a user-friendly tool for anyone to use in the future.
Ben Lane:
Your background information talks about the “concept of resilience.” Can you give more context about that idea?
Johanna Karvonen:
Resilience is a very “in” word. In our project and from an EU perspective, it refers directly to any entity’s ability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and resist any damage or incident. In other words, make sure we do not have any big incidents or cable breaks in the future and give an early warning if something happens so operators and authorities can respond and recover more quickly.
Ben Lane:
Can you explain the systematic approach the project will take to strengthen the European CI sector of submarine telecommunication, cables, power cables, and gas pipelines?
Johanna Karvonen:
We are developing technology by using artificial intelligence to translate data. There is a great deal of data available. For instance, if you have a situational awareness picture used by a coast guard or a cable owner, you are only using the human eye to scan a picture, trying to see if something is going on. With our method you can take in massive amounts of different data sources and use AI to ensure the system can find any anomalies, and alert us if something is happening.
Ben Lane:
You mentioned information sharing. How will you share this information? What methods are you using to disseminate and communicate information to industry, NATO, and the agencies?
Johanna Karvonen:
We are trying to communicate what we are doing in our projects by attending conferences, meetings in Brussels, workshops, in any way we can. We have good contacts, both at the European Commission and NATO. We are trying to communicate what we are doing and then disseminate our results. Of course, we are also using social media and our own website. We are intent on having a good network and meeting people and sharing information via our network as widely as possible.
Ben Lane:
Because that is going to be your challenge, isn’t it? We saw this challenge with another project last year, and they found it was quite difficult to get people to engage in their information hub. Have you thought about that challenge and how you may overcome the challenge of gathering the right people together?
Johanna Karvonen:
It is a challenge. In recent years, there has been increased media attention on the submarine cable network, particularly in the Baltic Sea, where several incidents have occurred since the start of the Ukraine war. Several people are talking about sabotage, others are not. But the good thing for us is that this has raised the awareness of the submarine cables on a European level, which means that the European Union and the European Commission are extremely interested in this topic. They see this as a big threat. They see this as a problem that needs to be solved. They are aware of our projects. We are now trying to have discussions with NATO about what they are doing and to see how we can cooperate.
But there is still a lot of work to be done on an EU level overall to build resilience of submarine critical infrastructure network. And there are a lot of policies that must be made. Hopefully, we will work on new projects in the future to protect the submarine network, then take it to an operational level, and then take it to the market.
Ben Lane:
Could you provide a couple of recent examples of threats against underwater structure?
Johanna Karvonen:
The major event that garnered media attention was the Nord Stream sabotage in 2022. While the perpetrator is unknown, it is confirmed to be an act of sabotage. Since then, there have been several incidents in the Baltic Sea involving broken cables, mostly caused by tanker ships dragging their anchors. Notably, in November near the island of Gotland, Sweden, a cable belonging to our partners Cinia from Finland was cut. On December 25th, 2024, multiple telecom cables and a power line between Finland and Estonia were damaged by a ship named Eagle S. This has been investigated, but it is difficult to prove sabotage. And Finland, of course, being incredibly careful in its diplomatic relations with Russia, has not pointed a finger at who this might be. But of course, I mean, if you have a Chinese tanker under a Russian ownership that is dragging its anchor for 150 kilometers, well, everyone can draw their own conclusions if it is sabotage or not!
Ben Lane:
Thank you. Finally, if we can look at the directives, what tools and methods will you provide to help achieve the CER and NIS2 directive requirements for submarine CI networks?
Johanna Karvonen:
We are indirectly supporting critical infrastructure owners by identifying vulnerabilities and risks in our projects, an endeavor that has not yet been accomplished at the European level. So, this will be a huge assistance for critical infrastructure operators. But then more directly, the CER directive and NIS2 directive is making it mandatory for critical entities to share information about any incidents to the national contact point. And what we are doing is to provide them with a tool that they can share this information securely, which will be especially important, because of course, it is sensitive information and how you are sharing it is critical. So, in this way, this tool will also help the implementation of these directives directly.
Ben Lane:
Is there anything you would like to add?
Johanna Karvonen:
You asked earlier about our challenges and one of them is getting the appropriate data required to train our tool, and to ensure it is as powerful as we need it. However, one data stream that we do not have access to is radar data, which would be important for us. However, this information is highly sensitive and owned directly by member states. Currently, it is not being shared. We are hoping the EU will step in and release this data. If European countries want to collaborate for the greater good, then we need to share all the data from all member states.
Ben Lane:
Quick question then. Do you think there will be a point when they share that resource?
Johanna Karvonen:
This requirement necessitates a political decision at the highest level, specifically of the European Union. It will not be enough if just one country shares this data. And if there is no such high-level political decision, I do not think it will ever happen.
Ben Lane:
That is a big challenge. Thank you for telling us about this exciting project and we wish you all the best. We look forward to hearing more details and progress when we are in Brindisi.
Johanna Karvonen:
Thank you so much.