Decades ago, cyberattacks seemed to be more of a futuristic problem that was promoted in movies rather than something to be concerned about in everyday life. Movies like The Terminator, in which an A.I. system becomes self-aware and attempts to exterminate human life, or Wargames where a young kid thinking he’s playing a computer game unknowingly almost starts World War 3 by attempting to launch nuclear missiles.
Cyberattacks are no longer just fictitious storylines to watch on the big screen. One only needs to look to world news to see that they are being used more frequently.
A quick look at recent cyberattack reports…
- Just last year Hector Xavier Monsegur, co-founder of the hacking group LulzSec, was interviewed by FOX News and said that cyber attacks against the U.S. will get “exponentially worse and worse.”
- Early in February of 2022, European oil facilities were affected by cyberattacks. The I.T. networks at dozens of oil storage terminals went down.
- In February 2022, the largest cyberattack in Ukraine’s history occurred, blocking access to banks and defense agencies.
- Just last week, “U.S. officials prep big banks and utilities for potential Russian cyberattacks as Ukraine crisis deepens,” reported CNN.
- In 2019, a report by govtech.com discussed the rise of cyberattacks on US-based utility companies when more than a dozen utility companies had been targeted within the year. The report stated, “The U.S. government has been warned the U.S. electricity grid is an inviting target for overseas hackers. National security officials have identified Russia and China as having the ability to temporarily disrupt the operations of electric utilities and gas pipelines.”
- According to securityintelligence.com, “In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the United States, faced a ransomware attack. The company, which transports more than 100 million gallons of gasoline and other fuel daily from Houston to New York Harbor, shut down work for several days.”
As technology progresses, we continue to make amazing advancements.
These advancements are in all fields, and as a whole, they lead to our way of life becoming both more convenient and easier.
Almost every aspect of our lives is driven by our connection with technology. It is inescapable. We have one-click shopping, next day delivery, instant connections to someone on the other side of the world, apps on our phones that can control household appliances as well as home security, automated machines, and chemical delivery systems in factories, hospitals, water treatment plants, utility companies, and a library of information that is available at our fingertips twenty-four hours a day.
All this progress, convenience, and connectivity don’t come without their pitfalls. The downside of all this technology is our dependency on it and how easily it can be manipulated and affected by external forces. Also, people have forgotten certain life skills, and the rise of instant gratification has left people with the inability to go without.
Cyberattacks can also change how warfare looks. For most people, the image of war is one where bombs or rockets are raining down on a target, or where armored vehicles and soldiers are sweeping through a city. This is certainly one side to warfare, but with cyberattacks, it can take on a different appearance.
Before there are boots on the ground, a cyber attack has the potential to disrupt many areas of a country’s infrastructure.
Areas that could be affected include but are not limited to:
- Banking systems
- Public transportation
- Oil and gas companies
- Electric companies
- Hospitals
- National defense systems
- Airlines
- Food production
- Water treatment plants
- Communications
- GPS systems
- The electrical grid itself
Most of the above examples would be considered critical for a country to function. Disrupting or shutting down just a few of them, even for a relatively short period of time, can greatly upset the balance within a country. This not only can have huge financial implications, but it can also pose risks and dangers to health and safety.
(This is all the more reason to get your food storage in order. Check out our free QUICKSTART Guide on how to build up your 3-layer food storage system.)
Much of the world’s population is subject to the effects of cyberattacks, whether directly or indirectly
We depend on technology for almost everything, and we will continue to depend on it unless some reset event sends us back several hundred years. Technology is here to stay, and sadly, so are nations at war and those who hold grudges against institutions, companies, and governments, but who have the technological know-how to disrupt their systems.
Therefore, it would seem that cyberattacks are also here to stay. To what end they are used is anyone’s guess. Will they be carried out with pinpoint accuracy to accomplish small-scale missions, or will their effects be felt by millions, or, perhaps billions of people?
Only time will tell.
What are your thoughts on cyber attacks? Do you think they will continue in frequency and be an increasing threat to worry about? Are you doing anything to prepare for the hard times that could follow a cyberattack on any of your country’s critical systems? Be sure to leave a comment below and let us know. Thanks for reading!
About Bryan Lynch
Bryan Lynch is the author of two books, Swiss Army Knife Camping And Outdoor Survival Guide, and Paracord Projects For Camping And Outdoor Survival. He has also written hundreds of articles about prepping, emergency preparedness, self-reliance, and gear reviews. Through his writing, his hope to help educate people and get them interested in these topics so that they are better prepared for an emergency.
IoT. Too many vulnerabilities. Too many variables! Even if your network is hardened…does not mean “upstream” is prepared.
The IT folks are only as good as their training and experience. Firewalls out of date, anti-spam/virus/malware out of date, routers not patched, password policy weak, email filtering, etc.
Nature of the Internet is millions of “networks” connected to each via routers. Staggering amount of possible weak points. Only possible to mitigate damage afterwords. No possible way to protect the whole of it. Especially when grandma can open an email and make her computer a bit factory! Dang it grandma! Really…cat video link!
So what’s the story with forum.theorganicprepper.com – database error? Is this a DDoS attack, or did somebody just kick out the power cord? It worked last night.
We’ve got someone working on it. No idea what’s happened to it but it certainly wouldn’t be our first DDoS attack.
Of course there will be a cyber attack on the power grid. Thats the next step in the WEF play book, since the covid hysteria is waning. Russia or white supremacists will be blamed, but is it really? More likely our own gobblement with the blessing / permission of the DHS. You know the ones that are supposed to be securing the “Homeland”, but who are they securing it for? The new voting class pouring in across our southern borders ILLEGALLY and from overseas. We can see through your obvious fraud. All are complicit or incompetent. There is no middle ground. What are we paying you clowns for again? To harass American citizens for daring to question their existence? Like a dog chasing its tail. It would be funny if it was happening in Russia and we could laugh at the stupid Russians. If the grid goes down, I’m blaming you derelicts.
LJB…don’t forget to consider the fact there are a whole lot of incompetent people in government positions making decisions about things they have no hands on experience with. This is especially true with cybersecurity. I’m not saying they are all incompetent, but there are just enough to make things a mess.
Critical Infrastructure- the C word that will make COVID look like a walk in the park. City of London has it all via the ongoing unmitigated transfer of American technology to Israel. Belt and Road. Kissinger. Brendon O’Connell has been raising the alarm on this for years though some of his videos are more participate that others.
https://youtu.be/OHFIAmO16qk
The managerial class in America is finally beginning to wake up. They have kids and grandkids and don’t want the outcomes the City of London is pushing. Hopefully the right people figured out what was going on in time to implement counter measures or the future for those of us will be highly surveilled and controlled Smart Cities but we won’t mind I suppose since we’ll be living in the metaverse.
Given the cussedness of a large enuf segment of humanity, it is only sensible to expect a major cyber attack some time, and be prepared to survive it.
I am working on getting to know my neighbors, on health, and low tech living. Local farmers for food.
If nothing ever happens, no problem, but counting on that really is severe cloud cuckoo land.
Prepare and you’ll likely be fairly comfortable.
“Prepare and you’ll likely be fairly comfortable.”
We don’t agree on that one.
Being prepared will buy you some time to maybe figure out something else, and little more for most of us.
Never the less, the old boy scout motto “be prepared” certainly holds true.
I can not imagine that ALL computers, FROM DAY ONE, were not PURPOSLY designed with nefarious “backdoors”. Furthermore, I believe that ALL “technology” has ONLY one of two sources, the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, ,or. the EVIL “spirit” of satan. I further believe that, at some point, these “computer” systems WERE infested with satanic demons. Not unlike some “movie” scripts. It is time the world awakes from our “its only a movie” mentalities and TAKE SERIOUS NOTICE of how close satan is to “controling the world” (GOD TOLD US HE WILL) and PRETENDING to BE god. Ever notice, that we see “technology” in the “movies”, and later, that “technology” becomes part of our lives? In my opinion, this world is living its final moments before its HORRIBLE end. THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD BE IMPORTANT TO THIS WORLDS CITIZENS NOW, IS TO REPENT, AND GET RIGHT WITH JESUS. GOD bless us and have mercy on us. LOVE, THROUGH JESUS OUR SAVIOR, DAVID EDWARD MAAS
AMEN !!!
The ones that concern me the most in the short term are national defense systems and water treatment systems. Huge vulnerability for even a brief outage there, depending on where you are. The lack of a power grid would certainly get uncomfortable for a lot of people very quickly too., as would the loss of banking.
I must admit, while I am probably a lot more prepared that the average person I find it overwhelming and feel there is so much still to do.
Your concerns about national defense related systems and water treatment systems are valid. In general, regardless of the industry or application environment, part of the problem is there are not nearly enough ‘good guys’, and far more ‘bad guys’ out there. The volume of data that has to be monitored and sifted through on a regular basis is in many cases staggering. Tools help to a degree, but there tends to be an over reliance on tools in some environments. Modern technology has many layers, and it can be time consuming and difficult to find the ‘root cause’ of events of interest – even with tools. Then there is the aspect of money. For example, Congress has known for many years there are issues with the power grid, but they refuse to do anything when it comes to providing funding for appropriately focusing security or resiliency concerns.
…’focusing on security’, not ‘focusing security’……sheesh….I need to slow down when I type I guess….