Ted Koppel's Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath sounds the alarm over the likelihood of a
devastating cyberattack on the infrastructure of the United States. Kendra's recent studies in emergency management have taught me just how serious an attack of this sort would be -- not simply upon daily life, but also upon any response and recovery.Koppel insists: "We remain distracted to this day by the prospects of retail terrorism when we should be focused on the wholesale threat of cyber catastrophe". His concern is an attack on America's three "surprisingly vulnerable" electrical grids, which link some 3,000 electric power companies to distribute electricity nationwide. Taking down a grid would leave millions in a desperate search for light and power. Such an attack can be launched from anywhere, would be difficult to trace, and might involve China or Russia (the greatest threats), terrorist groups, or rogue states. In his engaging account, Koppel draws on interviews with cyber and national security experts as well as the several individuals who have served as homeland security secretary, all of whom concede the likelihood of a cyberattack on the grid -- and that there is no federal plan for the aftermath.
Reading Lights Out often feels like reading a variety of risk assessments -- many of which insist immediate concerns (from natural disasters to conventional terrorism) demand higher priority than speculative threats of this variety. But the possibility of serious infrastructure damage is made all the more likely because the grid lacks resiliency, with many smaller power companies unwilling to share information critical to disaster planning because of their privacy and liability concerns.
Koppel's case is strong, even if government officials are rightly concerned elsewhere. But that makes Lights Out all the more essential reading.
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I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.