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  • Published: 30 January 2017
  • ISBN: 9780553419986
  • Imprint: Crown
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $40.00

Lights Out

A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath



Ask the Red Cross or FEMA what to do during a major power outage and they will tell you to have extra batteries on hand. But what if the blackout arrived without warning and lasted not days but weeks or months? There would be no running water; no sewage; no electric heat, refrigeration, or light. Food and medical supplies would dwindle. Banks would not function. Gas stations would no longer be able to pump fuel. The devices we rely on would go dark. Firefighters and police officers might no longer be reachable. Mass evacuation would become chaos. The fact is, one well-placed attack on the electrical grid could lastingly cripple much of our infrastructure. Several nation states could do it, and the ranks of criminal and terrorist organizations approaching the capability are growing. Ted Koppel convincingly argues that it is not a question of if such an attack occurs, but when. National leaders across government, industry, and the military know this--as they candidly admit in these pages. The Department of Homeland Security has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power grid. Individuals are largely left to their own devices, leading to an explosion of the "prepper" movement. Koppel visits one wealthy prepper whose retreat includes a specially excavated three-acre lake stocked with fish. But how will ordinary civilians survive? The Mormon church has elaborate plans for long-term disaster survival, but it doesn't have the resources for everyone. Lights Out exposes the breadth and urgency of the problem and suggests ways to prepare for an impending catastrophe.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared.

“Fascinating, frightening, and beyond timely.”—Anderson Cooper

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,” says Centcom Commander General Lloyd Austin, “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.  The current Secretary of Homeland Security suggests keeping a battery-powered radio.

In the absence of a government plan, some individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands. Among the nation’s estimated three million “preppers,” we meet one whose doomsday retreat includes a newly excavated three-acre lake, stocked with fish, and a Wyoming homesteader so self-sufficient that he crafted the thousands of adobe bricks in his house by hand. We also see the unrivaled disaster preparedness of the Mormon church, with its enormous storehouses, high-tech dairies, orchards, and proprietary trucking company—the fruits of a long tradition of anticipating the worst. But how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive?

With urgency and authority, one of our most renowned journalists examines a threat unique to our time and evaluates potential ways to prepare for a catastrophe that is all but inevitable.

  • Published: 30 January 2017
  • ISBN: 9780553419986
  • Imprint: Crown
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $40.00

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