Lights out
Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. Tens of millions of people over several states are affected. For those without access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before. It isn't just a scenario. A well-designed attack on just one of the nation's three electric power grids could cripple much of our infrastructure--and in the age of cyberwarfare, a laptop has become the only necessary weapon. Several nations hostile to the United States could launch such an assault at any time. In fact, as a former chief scientist of the NSA reveals, China and Russia have already penetrated the grid. And a cybersecurity advisor to President Obama believes that independent actors--from "hacktivists" to terrorists--have the capability as well. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. And yet, as Koppel makes clear, the federal government, while well prepared for natural disasters, has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power grid. In the absence of a government plan, some individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands. But how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive?
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What Hacker News says
- Depending on what equipment has been damaged, physical attacks on electrical infrastructure may take months to repair.
There are a number of books that address risks to the grid. The one I specifically recall was by Ted Koppel, Lights Out: A Cyberattack: A Nation Unprepared: Surviving the Aftermath though there are several others listed here:
<https://shepherd.com/best-books/electrical-grid-vulnerabilit...>
By one account, attacks on just nine substations could take the US power grid offline for up to 18 months:
<https://www.foxnews.com/politics/small-scale-power-grid-atta...> (2015)
- Ted Koppel wrote a book about this subject (of our grid’s vulnerability in general) called “Lights Out”. Because it’s Ted Koppel, he had access to some top level officials for interviews. He came away super concerned that no one had any great answers. It was a pretty good read!
- This recent USA Today article claims our grid is attacked every three to four days:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/24/power-grid-ph...
As mentioned in another comment, Ted Koppel's book "Lights Out" is a really fascinating read on the threat.
- As mentioned in another post, the DoD lists lack of manufacturing capabilities as a growing risk. There are many small batch parts that the US could manufacture, but companies aren’t interested. There are also those items which they no longer have the capacity to make, or deliver. Ted Koppel’s book Lights Out gives examples of long lead time items that can’t be made in the US and we also lack the ability to deliver them because the necessary infrastructure is no longer there
- Most militarily-significant targets are themselves non-military.
The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine is a prime example: power infrastructure, transportation, communications, commercial hubs, healthcare, and general civilian targets of opportunity are all targeted with high frequency by Russian forces.
UK national security interests are spelled out in summary beginning on page 5 of this PDF, "Government Functional Standard: GovS 007: Security", notably
Each organisation’s governance and management framework shall cover physical, personnel, cyber, incident management, technical and industry security
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/613a195bd3bf7...> (PDF)
The US electric grid has also been of significant concern. Ted Koppel's book Lights Out (2015) addressed this specificly:
<https://news.wttw.com/2015/11/09/ted-koppel-americas-vulnera...>
As an example of non-military focus, the present US national security policy leads with ... tourist visas:
To protect Americans, the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/prot...> (20 Jan 2025)
An earlier document from the Bush II White House leads with:
People everywhere want to be able to speak freely; choose who will govern them; worship as they please; educate their children—male and female; own property; and enjoy the benefits of their labor.
<https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nssall.html> (2002)
Wikipedia's National Security article notes:
Originally conceived as protection against military attack, national security is widely understood to include also non-military dimensions, such as the security from terrorism, minimization of crime, economic security, energy security, environmental security, food security, and cyber-security.
- Sounds interesting! Would this be the Ted Koppel one? There seem to be a bunch of books called "Lights Out".
