This archive report was first published on 26 November 2019.
On November 24, 2019, Kenya experienced a fault in one of its four submarine cables that carry the bulk of Eastern Africa's internet traffic to Europe and Asia.
While the incident was inconvenient, it highlighted the importance of the undersea fibre cables that now carry internet traffic between continents.
Mombasa is a strategic internet hub for traffic originating from upstream capitals of Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, and Bujumbura.
However, the incident also raised questions about the possibility of an internet blackout due to malicious actors.
Theoretically, yes, it is possible to shut down the internet globally, but practically, it is very difficult to execute.
The internet core infrastructure has built redundancies across continents and countries, making it challenging to cause a total blackout.
For example, the root server system acts as the navigation system, guiding internet requests to their destinations.
However, there are multiple root servers scattered across the globe, acting as backups to each other.
When one goes down, the other continues delivering the service without internet users noticing a glitch.
Nevertheless, it is much easier to cause a localized internet shutdown than a globalized one, and several African governments have been perfecting this notorious habit over the years.
Some governments have been known to instruct technicians to pull the power supply or send special forces to pull the power plug at their submarine stations.
Other softer practices include 'brown-outs' rather than absolute shutdowns, which are localised shutdowns specific to the geographic zone that the security forces want to constrain.
These practices have been used in Kenya on several occasions when high-value visitors like Presidents and Prime Ministers from certain countries visit.
So next time you get online, do not take it for granted.
Spare a thought for the many others around the globe whose internet access is not guaranteed and instead depends on the good mood or otherwise of their autocratic rulers.
Mr. Walubengo is a lecturer at Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT.
