Superman battles Lex Luthor, the Internet battles sharks

It goes without saying the internet rules every aspect of our lives — including aspects that don’t immediately come to mind, such as shipping, healthcare, and utility and electrical systems. So even though we rely on the internet for so many things, like the citizens of Metropolis rely on Superman, the internet has more weaknesses than kryptonite. One example being sharks.

The Internet relies on 550,000 miles of underwater cable to transmit 99% of international data. Outages can occur when these cables are shredded by earthquakes, ship’s anchors and you guessed it, sharks. Luckily, Google is reportedly developing a “shark repellent” device to deter those underwater killers. In the meantime, communications connecting the globe are fragile.

Hardware issues and coordinated attacks also spell disaster for the net. Traffic for the internet is routed through 30 Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). Hackers can disrupt service by hit IXPs, ISPs and even iOS, though malware attacks target Andriod-based mobile devices 78% more.

So what happens if large-scale attacks were successful in taking down the internet? So much of modern life is dependent on the net that it’s hard to say. Read on in this infographic to learn more about how the internet isn’t as invulnerable as a caped crusader.

Infographic Courtesy of Liquid Networx

Featured Image Courtesy of FreeStockPhotos.biz