Cyber Terrorism: We All May Be Living Off the Grid Soon

Sony Pictures has been hacked, and people are breathless as they pour over the leaked emails and other personal information. People love a scandal, but how the emails and other information were obtained, should scare everyone in the country, and make them think twice about what the future holds. As people devour the juicy details, are they asking themselves, who or what is next? It’s a large corporation today. Will it be a major city tomorrow?

Corporations and banks are being hacked almost daily it seems. Probes from hackers are ongoing. They search for weaknesses, and then exploit them. There are weaknesses in every system and some nations have so-called hacking teams that work around the clock.

All this information can add up to confusion and fear, and it does make people wonder what is coming next. Well there is always something next, some crisis, some disaster lurking in the shadows, but is it the big one, is it a doomsday scenario or Armageddon.

Those that predict that something will happen will see their prophecy come true at some point, because “something” always happens. Predicting something will happen tomorrow is the same as a sign hung in a bar offering “free whiskey tomorrow”, and when people show up tomorrow for the free whisky the bartenders shrugs and point to the sign that says free whisky tomorrow. Tomorrow always comes and yet there is always another tomorrow that will come after.

Predictions are easy, getting ready for what they are predicting is another matter entirely. However, when the proof is evident for all to see it is no longer a prediction, it is reality.

There are nations out there that very likely have the capability to shutdown the power grid in this country. Can they be stopped is one question, but regardless, you have to assume they cannot be stopped, because otherwise you would not prepare. The next question is if they do have the capability will they use it, again you have to assume they would.

Can We Even Prepare

Some truly believe they can live without electricity and live without all the technology that depends on electricity. Some of course can, but in reality, not many will be able to for an extended period.

You have to be able to survive long enough however, until the country recovers, and this means preparations must be ongoing. A well-stocked pantry is good, but you also need a plan for when the shelves are bare. Thinking you have enough right now is a mistake. You need renewable sources, because a stockpile of food and water does not reproduce itself, it shrinks, and you need a plan that replaces.

City dwellers will suffer the most because if a hacker decides to target the water treatment plant in your city then all public water is suspect and cannot be consumed or used for any purpose. Are you prepared if you awaken one morning and the blaring headlines are proclaiming that the city water is contaminated, or it has not been properly treated because the computers were compromised and the chlorine levels were tampered with?

We All Know What Needs to Be Done the Problem is Can We Do It

As you sit here and read this, you may think you can. The television is mumbling in the background, one of the kids is showering upstairs and the furnace is humming softly spilling out warm air.

You believe you can, and you probably have prepared to some extent, but most people prepare with a deadline in mind. Even with all the information out there, many still assume that when the power goes out it will come back on at some point, so they prepare thinking they know what the end game is, and that is that power is restored within a certain period.

Try going off grid for just a weekend, and you will see how difficult it is. Most everyone has endured a few hours, days or even a few weeks without electricity. You endured however, with the thought it will be back on any minute. 

Your electricity may be out and you can endure because power outages are typically localized. What happens when it is country or region wide? Transportation of every sort would stop, planes grounded and trains sitting idle and empty, gas stations and banks shuttered and grocery stores vacant.

You Have To Decide

You have to decide what it is you need to do and base it on known threats and we already know what some countries can do with a computer. Most city dwellers cannot just pick up and move to the countryside, where land is plentiful or so some think, and even if just a third of the people did do this, then there would no longer be rural areas. The reality is in most cases, where you live now is where you will have to survive a power grid failure.

Prepare based on the threat and your environment. You have to take measures if you do not have access to land and thus a private water source. No one is sure of anything however, because no one has had to live through a nationwide grid failure.

You prepare based on the facts available and common sense. One thing is for sure though. You will need provisions and the will, knowledge and skills to live for an extended period without technology. The country would recover from a destroyed power grid. How long it takes is the big question, because anyone can survive a few days, a few weeks and in some cases a few months, but a few years?

Many will die and the positive aspect is of course less competition for resources and those that do survive will be the stronger and in some cases the smartest among us. The ones that have what it takes to start rebuilding.

What does it feel like when the lights really go out and you know it is probably nationwide. Do you think you can now start preparing? There are no do over’s, if you do not have it now you will not have it when the lights go out.

http://prepforshtf.com/cyber-terrorism-may-living-off-grid-soon/#.VI32J9LF-So