Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath

An excellent survey on the topic of America's dependence on an electrical grid which is less than secure (either to natural or man-made acts). Koppel approaches the subject with a clear and concise writing style. He does not use a "Chicken Little" tone, or an arrogantly dismissive one (as do some who follow this topic from an alarmed or complacent point of view as the case may be).In a nutshell, Americans enjoy a quality of life largely due to our electrical grid. And, although the grid is robust enough to handle local disruptions (e.g. hurricane Katrina), it is not inherently as sturdy in the face of widely spread events such as the 1859 solar storm (aka The Carrington Event). Worse, there is very little "grand strategy" in terms of plans and spare part stockpiling to repair large scale damage to the grid, and some of the relevant tools require years to produce and very real specializations simply to move, much less reconnect.This book is an excellent primer on the topic for non-specialists who are willing to think a bit without becoming "an expert."

As terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and racial tension dominate headlines and demand the attention of the American public, former ABC News and Nightline anchor Ted Koppel seeks to fire a warning flare amidst the cacophony of voices debating the nation’s most threatening specter in “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath”.As a journalist with over forty years experience under his belt, and perhaps a deserved credibility as the last of a breed of Great American Anchorman including the likes of Rather, Brokaw, and Jennings, Koppel hopes to use his voice to draw attention to the threat of a large-scale attack on the U.S. power grid, the consequences of which, he details, would be “catastrophic for our national security and economy.”Koppel first lays out the organization of the nation’s aging power grid separated into three main interconnections and numerous substations, all critical parts functioning to provide electrical power to a nation of over 300 million citizens. He details the regulatory bureaucracy involved in keeping these sites running safely both on the ground and in cyberspace before listing off the myriad of vulnerabilities available to be exploited by those seeking to disrupt the system — including anecdotal evidence that some parties may already have in small-scale test runs. Continuing on, he provides interviews with various government officials demonstrating an apparent pervasive lack of preparedness despite congressional acknowledgement that “timely reconstitution of the grid following a carefully targeted attack…would result in widespread outages for at least months to two years or more…” Concluding his exposé by presenting stories of groups in the general public that would be best prepared to survive the aftermath of such a widespread electrical and cyber outage, Koppel leaves the reader by contending the importance of preparation on a national as well as a personal scale, conveying in no uncertain terms that an attack on the grid is not a matter of “if” but rather “when.”But, somewhere past the midway point of his book, Koppel seems to lose his way. After providing an excellent background on the nation’s power grid followed by countless discussions with experts detailing the threat to America posed by rival nation-states and independent actors, Koppel starts repeating himself. Furthermore (and more problematically), in the latter chapters of his book Koppel passes beyond the scope of his subject by closely detailing the stories of doomsday “preppers” who spend small fortunes and large parts of their free time stocking up on supplies and building fallout shelters to ready themselves for society’s impending collapse. Indeed, it is at this point that the reader experiences a tinge of doubtfulness as to the actual likelihood of a nationwide power failure when confronted with these sometimes outlandish characters who preach preparedness against the inevitable nuclear war, biological attack, or economic meltdown among a host of other possible world-ending scenarios that they see as eventualities. Indeed, this newfound skepticism experienced by the reader is a shame as it undermines Koppel’s presentation of a previously clear and present danger to our national security that has yet to receive the attention it is warranted. Koppel deviates further from his subject by inexplicably dedicating an entire chapter to expound on the structure of the Mormon organization in order to highlight the culture of disaster preparation prevalent within the religion. Consequently, by allocating a third of his book on networks of preppers — whether to serve as examples of adequate or insufficient planning, a point that is unclear —Koppel demonstrates that his book may have been better served as a shorter piece or a lengthy editorial in the New York Times.Ultimately, though Ted Koppel’s voice trails off towards the end of “Lights Out,” and not surprisingly includes a few moments of his characteristic pro-government bias regarding the trade-off between personal privacy and public security, his title proves to be an informative and interesting read on an underestimated threat.Review Post: https://medium.com/@cspteja/review-lights-out-by-ted-koppel-a-newsman-s-public-warning-c08f6f4df17e#.b1ad6vf3l

Koppel's well written book, which I have enjoyed so much I've bought 2 additional copies, is pregnant with the question, "Can you survive if you're YOYO?" Can you survive if you're on your own? That's pretty much where you're going to be . . . for a long time, with the loss of the grid. And, don't be looking to the federal or state government to come to the rescue. All politics is local and so will your help be when it can get to you--if it can. It will be local government and local citizens that will have to be their first help, and for a long, long time. Long time!Koppel recently did an interview with Bill O'Reilly in which he said it's not just possible, it's likely we will lose our electrical grid to an attack from forces against us. Well, what would that be like, i.e., to lose our grid? It will be a return to the 18th century, and that's NASA's comment, but, from loss of the grid to a solar flare.It's irrelevant if we lose the grid due to a terrorist or foreign government's attack or due to a super, category 5 solar flare. We missed just such a flare by 9 days in 2012, when our planet had moved out of the orbit where, if it had not moved from the path of the solar flare, here's what is said would be the result as reported in a NASA article, "Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012 http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/ 'If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news,'" and, the point is then made is that's where we would be knocked back to, the 18th century, if that flare had hit. [You will see in that article that it's reported that we have a 12% chance within the 10 years of the article's 2014 publication that earth will take a direct hit from a massive category 5 solar flare--and then the specter of the 18th century is there, but, not like a Hollywood movie, but, for real.]Oh. As a footnote, has anyone read that the U.S. Navy has very recently returned to training the use of the quintessential 18th century sextant so that our ships can navigate by celestial lights if the man made lights go out, if satellite communications are interrupted?At the highest levels in the military, things are being taken seriously but, we can't expect rescue by our national or state governments if we lose power. It's going to be local government and local leaders and local citizens who are going to have to step up. Seattle, Washington's SNAP (Seattle Neighbor's Actively Prepare) program is one good example. In El Paso County, Colorado, we have a corollary in the Lighthouse Project Training program, which SNAP has allowed to use its materials as an aid to that program.So, what are you doing, what am I doing, what are we doing, to help ourselves when we're on our own? Get involved to get your local leadership, whether city or county, to wake up, if they're not already awake, and prepare for what comes with the loss of the electrical grid or any other major disaster, for that matter. Notice, for example, that Seattle's program isn't called the "SNAR" program--Seattle Neighbors Actively Reacting". There's a huge difference between REACTING and PREPARINGWe've had the good fortune in El Paso County, Colorado's local government to have on its Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Peggy Littleton who years ago, looked over the horizon, so to speak, and saw the red skies of morning, and who has heeded the warning and lead many others in local government and community leadership to pay attention, who has helped many local citizens do the same, encouraging the local community to be prepared for any emergency event as may arise for which, if you can get past the first 72 hours, you have best opportunity to survive. She has taken the leadership on encouraging people to have their own 72 hour survival kits, with her not so jocular but well reported question in local news as follows, "Can you survive if you're YOYO?" Can you survive if you're on your own?To help local citizens answer the "YOYO" question, El Paso County, as a result of Commissioner Littleton's force of character, initiated a very humorous way to make people think of emergency preparedness through its annual "Be Prepared . . . Don't be a Zombie Run" a 5K and 3K Zombie Run hosted by El Paso County Parks to showcase the need for all residents to develop their own family and workplace emergency preparedness plans.Again, look to forward thinking communities such as Seattle, Washington's SNAP program. There are examples like that which need be considered by local leaders interested in helping their citizens be prepared for any emergency. And that is exactly what El Paso County Commissioner Littleton did, as she recognized how SNAP could be a source of useful information for our local model "The Lighthouse Prime Training and Support" See: http://www.lighthouseprime.com/#!training/cn4z for the modelling on the SNAP program.The bottom line is that it will be neighbors helping neighbors, locals helping locals, and local government--for what it may be able to do when it too loses electricity--that will be the first line of help with the loss of the electric grid. Federal and state governments will be overwhelmed. What WILL you do when you're on your own?

Spannendes Buch in der englischen Original-Fassung. Wer sich für Cyber-Security und Datenschutz interessiert, dürfte begeistert sein.

This is a very important book. Unfortunately, the writer repeats himself a bit too much. But this is a subject that is so horrendous that Koppel can be forgiven for trying to drum it into our heads that the disastrous consequences of a penetration and destruction of the continent's power grids are not only possible but likely in the dynamics of the present imbalances of power. It requires more than a short-term fix to counter this threat!. The principal professional reviewer has done this much better than I and so I will refer the reader to his top positive review.But I I wonder about a few things: Koppel mentions a measure of safety in systems by isolating them by "air" that is, an isolating gap in the network connections - in the case of the grid, between administrative computer systems and operating power systems. Then he destroys the efficacy of this isolation by saying some keeners might bring in their laptops and thumbajugs thus allowing a breach in the system. Well, my god in heaven, if this matter is so crucial then police the system and fire, lock up anyone who would try such a dumb thing allowing the possible entry of a catastrophic virus destroying the integrity of the system. Also, why not connect the various operating power systems by dedicated fibre optic lines isolating them from outside communications - and the Internet. Canada did that several years ago for vital communications links. Finally, if the consequences of attack through the internet are so disastrous, why not shut the goddam thing down, or at least rebuild it so that control can be exerted over the system by isolating segments. The system is no longer a plaything for university professors working on mutual projects. And we along quite well before the web was allowed to explode into the unmanageable nightmare that now threatens us because of its weaknesses! Oh, I know, the precious US constitution and the Fourth amendment! The flaws in that constitution have the structure of US governance have amply been displayed lately as no friend of the American people, with political parties at war with each other to the detriment of the country and persons of questionable intelligence, if not sanity, are allowed to be President.At least in one set of jurisdictions (the free world) isolate and control all servers. The downside is too horrendous a cost to continue with this plaything.

Deeply worrying.When I trained as a nurse all the equipment was NOT electrifyed i.e. by the end of our training we had taken hundreds of blood pressures ect,Now, machines do the work - are they accurate - what happens when they fial?Best wishes,Marg.

What are you and your family going to do, if the electricity goes out for 1hour, 1day, 1week, 1month or 1year. Our system is archaic and very venerable to attack. This book is a good place to start from 👍🏻

Koppel sounds a warning bell here, methodically relating interviews about the seriousness of the cyber threat without going so far as being screechy. Well worth reading even if (or perhaps because) it is a bit unsettling.