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Broadway Books (2016), Edition: Reprint, 288 pages
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Politics. Technology. Engineering. Nonfiction. HTML: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 poten… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Widespread power outages: inevitably massively lethal.
Extended review:
Lights Out is a very scary book. For that reason I had to take a break from reading it over the holidays, even though it made me late with my review. My apologies all around.
This also an important book, important
If the writing couldn't be called brilliant, that's a secondary consideration. The main thing is the message. The imaginary horrors of postapocalyptic fiction seem none too extreme when viewed in the light of what could really happen to our communities, our cities, and our world within days and even minutes of a massive cyberattack.
The destruction that once would have taken vast armies, and much later would at least have entailed advanced technology and military power, can now be exceeded in orders of magnitude by the covert actions of a small group of committed fanatics. One solitary, malevolent nut can take out the populated world.
Let me say this right here: yes, I believe this book. I believe it is an accurate report. Veteran newsman Ted Koppel throws all his credibility behind it, a solid reputation gained from his 42-year career in television journalism and his experience in reporting on major events around the world. He includes comments drawn verbatim from experts, both in interviews and in published and unpublished materials, and documents his sources.
Significantly, there is major disagreement among those putative experts, of whom some sound more seriously clueless than others. And some are in frank denial. Koppel reports their contradictory and even self-contradictory assertions, admissions, and arguments in as objective-sounding a way as one would expect a conscientious reporter to do.
And yet, paradoxically, Koppel treats his subject as something too important to be dispassionate about. After laying out all the facts as he has gathered and ordered them, Koppel makes it personal. He gives us autobiographical information, describing his recollections of early childhood in London during the Blitz of World War II, of diving for cover at the sound of an incendiary bomb. He explains how having a plan, being prepared for some kind of emergency, enabled the British to cope with the air raids even if they were not exactly what people had prepared for. He speaks feelingly of personal motives, too, for writing the book--for using the cachet of his journalistic career to seek out the answers to serious questions about our vulnerability to cyberattack--and what the support of his wife and others has meant to him. In these portions of the book he is not striving for objectivity at all; just the opposite.
It gets personal with him because it is and should be personal to every human being on the planet--the more so, the closer one is to all the things we think of as defining the modern world. And the more dependent one is upon them. That includes not only all high-tech devices but everything that depends either directly or indirectly on things that plug in. If the electrical grid goes down, those go down, and they include security, delivery, distribution, and monitoring systems of every kind, not to mention all the things we hardly think of as devices any more, from traffic lights to toasters.
The power grid is extremely vulnerable. The smaller, less cash-rich power companies are less well defended and more vulnerable than the big ones, and even the big ones have inadequate or nonexistent backup systems. The huge power generators on which the major systems depend would take years to replace. The smaller links in the chain are the most easily breached, and one good break could bring down the works or a large part of it. People would be in serious trouble in a couple of days, especially people in urban areas. Communications would be among the first things to go. And the government does not have any reasonable, realistic plan for dealing with such a situation.
A few extra gallons of water, a stockpile of batteries, and a hand-cranked radio are not going to cut it. Not even if you add a gun.
Koppel does not just sound alarms. He also talks about what it would take to improve our chances of survival: how some have already faced the question, from individual "preppers" who go to survivalist shows and spend big bucks on supplies and gear to the tightly organized, community-based self-protection programs of the Mormon church. Most significantly, he spotlights the government's failure to draft any sort of a reasonable plan or even to recognize the need for one. Unless we belong to a self-selecting community that has taken it upon itself to identify and fill the need, we're pretty much on our own. And few of us are equipped to deal with that in even the most basic ways.
The answers are not in this book. The answers may not exist anywhere. But one thing is sure: until the questions themselves are taken seriously, there will be none, either now or when it's already too late.
Extended review:
Lights Out is a very scary book. For that reason I had to take a break from reading it over the holidays, even though it made me late with my review. My apologies all around.
This also an important book, important
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to all of us. If you can read this post, you're affected. So, probably, is everyone else. In contrast, the threat of Ebola sounds like a head cold.If the writing couldn't be called brilliant, that's a secondary consideration. The main thing is the message. The imaginary horrors of postapocalyptic fiction seem none too extreme when viewed in the light of what could really happen to our communities, our cities, and our world within days and even minutes of a massive cyberattack.
The destruction that once would have taken vast armies, and much later would at least have entailed advanced technology and military power, can now be exceeded in orders of magnitude by the covert actions of a small group of committed fanatics. One solitary, malevolent nut can take out the populated world.
Let me say this right here: yes, I believe this book. I believe it is an accurate report. Veteran newsman Ted Koppel throws all his credibility behind it, a solid reputation gained from his 42-year career in television journalism and his experience in reporting on major events around the world. He includes comments drawn verbatim from experts, both in interviews and in published and unpublished materials, and documents his sources.
Significantly, there is major disagreement among those putative experts, of whom some sound more seriously clueless than others. And some are in frank denial. Koppel reports their contradictory and even self-contradictory assertions, admissions, and arguments in as objective-sounding a way as one would expect a conscientious reporter to do.
And yet, paradoxically, Koppel treats his subject as something too important to be dispassionate about. After laying out all the facts as he has gathered and ordered them, Koppel makes it personal. He gives us autobiographical information, describing his recollections of early childhood in London during the Blitz of World War II, of diving for cover at the sound of an incendiary bomb. He explains how having a plan, being prepared for some kind of emergency, enabled the British to cope with the air raids even if they were not exactly what people had prepared for. He speaks feelingly of personal motives, too, for writing the book--for using the cachet of his journalistic career to seek out the answers to serious questions about our vulnerability to cyberattack--and what the support of his wife and others has meant to him. In these portions of the book he is not striving for objectivity at all; just the opposite.
It gets personal with him because it is and should be personal to every human being on the planet--the more so, the closer one is to all the things we think of as defining the modern world. And the more dependent one is upon them. That includes not only all high-tech devices but everything that depends either directly or indirectly on things that plug in. If the electrical grid goes down, those go down, and they include security, delivery, distribution, and monitoring systems of every kind, not to mention all the things we hardly think of as devices any more, from traffic lights to toasters.
The power grid is extremely vulnerable. The smaller, less cash-rich power companies are less well defended and more vulnerable than the big ones, and even the big ones have inadequate or nonexistent backup systems. The huge power generators on which the major systems depend would take years to replace. The smaller links in the chain are the most easily breached, and one good break could bring down the works or a large part of it. People would be in serious trouble in a couple of days, especially people in urban areas. Communications would be among the first things to go. And the government does not have any reasonable, realistic plan for dealing with such a situation.
A few extra gallons of water, a stockpile of batteries, and a hand-cranked radio are not going to cut it. Not even if you add a gun.
Koppel does not just sound alarms. He also talks about what it would take to improve our chances of survival: how some have already faced the question, from individual "preppers" who go to survivalist shows and spend big bucks on supplies and gear to the tightly organized, community-based self-protection programs of the Mormon church. Most significantly, he spotlights the government's failure to draft any sort of a reasonable plan or even to recognize the need for one. Unless we belong to a self-selecting community that has taken it upon itself to identify and fill the need, we're pretty much on our own. And few of us are equipped to deal with that in even the most basic ways.
The answers are not in this book. The answers may not exist anywhere. But one thing is sure: until the questions themselves are taken seriously, there will be none, either now or when it's already too late.
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LibraryThing member dougcornelius
Should we worry about an attack on the Untied States' electrical infrastructure? Ted Koppel says "very much so" in his book: Lights Out. You probably better know Mr. Koppel as the longtime anchorman on ABC News and Nightline. In Lights Out he puts on his old school journalist hat and puts together
The book is divided in three parts. The first part looks at the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure. It's old. It's connected. Hackers can get at it and cause problems. He does not dive deep into the nuts and bolts. I'm not sure if that's because it's too complicated, he doesn't completely understand the vulnerabilities, or he does not want the book to be a manifesto on how to structure an attack. Personally, I think it's a bit of all three.
The second part covers how prepared the government is to handle a prolonged loss of part of the electrical grid. No surprise; It's not prepared.
He wraps up the book with a look at what individual citizens are doing. He spends a long time looking at the Mormon church. Part of the church's dogma is to have its members be prepared for a long period of self-reliance. Church members are taught to stockpile food in their homes. The central church organization has a large infrastructure to stockpile and distribute food.
He spends some time with survivalists, but dismisses some of their tin-foil hat conspiracies. The truth is that cities can only survive for a few days without electricity. The lack of food stockpiles, water supply and waste disposal will quickly cause problems.
Given the compliance focus on cybersecurity, I thought this might be an interesting book to read when the publisher offered me a copy for review.
In the first section on vulnerability, you guess what he says he found. It's just a matter of "when" there is an attack on the electrical infrastructure, not "if." In part he blames federalism, regulation, and de-regulation on the situation. There is no one regulatory body in place to impose cybersecurity standards. Ownership of the infrastructure is split into thousands of companies, with different business models and different abilities to spend the time and money needed thwart a cyber attack.
I found the second section of the book to be the better of the three. It's also the part where Mr. Koppel is able to use his star power and connection to meet with current and former government officials who would be responsible for dealing with an attack like this.
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an in depth investigation of the vulnerability of the US electrical infrastructure and effects of a cyber attack on it.The book is divided in three parts. The first part looks at the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure. It's old. It's connected. Hackers can get at it and cause problems. He does not dive deep into the nuts and bolts. I'm not sure if that's because it's too complicated, he doesn't completely understand the vulnerabilities, or he does not want the book to be a manifesto on how to structure an attack. Personally, I think it's a bit of all three.
The second part covers how prepared the government is to handle a prolonged loss of part of the electrical grid. No surprise; It's not prepared.
He wraps up the book with a look at what individual citizens are doing. He spends a long time looking at the Mormon church. Part of the church's dogma is to have its members be prepared for a long period of self-reliance. Church members are taught to stockpile food in their homes. The central church organization has a large infrastructure to stockpile and distribute food.
He spends some time with survivalists, but dismisses some of their tin-foil hat conspiracies. The truth is that cities can only survive for a few days without electricity. The lack of food stockpiles, water supply and waste disposal will quickly cause problems.
Given the compliance focus on cybersecurity, I thought this might be an interesting book to read when the publisher offered me a copy for review.
In the first section on vulnerability, you guess what he says he found. It's just a matter of "when" there is an attack on the electrical infrastructure, not "if." In part he blames federalism, regulation, and de-regulation on the situation. There is no one regulatory body in place to impose cybersecurity standards. Ownership of the infrastructure is split into thousands of companies, with different business models and different abilities to spend the time and money needed thwart a cyber attack.
I found the second section of the book to be the better of the three. It's also the part where Mr. Koppel is able to use his star power and connection to meet with current and former government officials who would be responsible for dealing with an attack like this.
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LibraryThing member mohitgoel
I got this book as part of LT early reviewers giveaway.
Having been closely associated with the cybersecurity and the utilities industry, the threat laid out by Mr Koppel seems not so far fetched. I recently lived through the aftermath of a storm as well and yes, it was nothing short of a zombie
Where this book falls a little short is on the "what to do when this happens" area. I would have loved to see something concrete both from an individual, community and government perspective.
Having been closely associated with the cybersecurity and the utilities industry, the threat laid out by Mr Koppel seems not so far fetched. I recently lived through the aftermath of a storm as well and yes, it was nothing short of a zombie
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apocalypse. The stores were dumping their produce, there were people lining up to buy anything raw. When you think about it, we are overly reliant on the power grid.Where this book falls a little short is on the "what to do when this happens" area. I would have loved to see something concrete both from an individual, community and government perspective.
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LibraryThing member SJFrancis
I wanted to read this book as soon as I heard about it. I’ve always wondered what would happen, what the USA would do if everything electronic was suddenly shut down by a cataclysmic event or otherwise. This book brings to light with scary facts, opinions from the experts and those everyday
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from blogging for books in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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people that are already preparing for such an event. Koppel is a journalist. Hence, his writing is a bit dry. Think school text book. Not everyone will enjoy this book because of that, but he presents the evidence that shows what I knew all along, what a great many already know. Woe to the US should an enemy shut down one or all of our power grids. Nothing will work. There’ll be no electricity to run televisions, or radios or computers. Banks can’t process money in or out. Pharmacies won’t be able to get in medication. Supermarkets won’t be able to bring groceries in. Fact is, as Koppel shows, the United States is the country that is most dependent on electricity. Metropolitan areas will feel the power loss first and foremost. What will you do should this scenario play out for not just hours, but days, weeks even months? Would you be prepared? The government certainly isn’t. What is even more scary is that this scenario is probably.Disclaimer: I received an ARC from blogging for books in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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LibraryThing member RickLA
This timely book addresses a very possible risk to America – a cyber-attack which would cripple our electrical grid system. We are so dependent on our electrical system nowadays. We have become so accustomed to the easy convenience of electrical power in practically everything we do, with the
I am so glad that Ted Koppel has written this book, as he pulls no punches in laying out the colossal problem that a cyber-attack would be. He talks to many experts and officials, pushing and probing for answers. It is a bit disconcerting that he mostly receives vague and inadequate answers. Few officials even focus on this problem. We are spending millions of dollars on TSA lines at the airport, but very little on this far more dangerous situation – the safety and security of our electrical system. Koppel does talk to some people who are addressing the problem. There are small communities of survivalists and “preppers” but they are fairly isolated; they couldn’t handle the millions of people who would be affected. Oddly enough, the Mormons are the major community of any size that is concretely preparing for a potential disaster situation.
The book will leave you with a very worrisome outlook. Koppel does not really provide a solution at the conclusion of the book. He does say that at least we have to identify the problem. True, but we really have to start doing something about it. There could be one thing good about the recent hacker attacks that have been revealed during this election season – if we become aware of the prevalence of such attacks and do something about them. And one of the main places to start would be the electrical system. As much as I worry about earthquakes (living in Los Angeles), and I do, a major failure of the electrical grid system would be even more disastrous. I hope everyone reads this book – especially our country’s leaders, and that they do something about it.
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plethora of appliances we use. And now with the advent of the computer age, it is even more crucial, because of our reliance on cell phones and computers. Indeed, our entire communications system is based on electricity – the way we get our food, water, medical care, and on and on. If the system went down for more than a few days, it would be literally disastrous. And yet we hear very little about this risk, compared with the “ordinary” disasters such as fires, hurricanes, etc. But as bad as those occurrences are, they do their damage, then they are gone, and we clean up and fix up and recover. On the other hand, an electrical grid failure would cause problems for months because of the sheer magnitude of the problem.I am so glad that Ted Koppel has written this book, as he pulls no punches in laying out the colossal problem that a cyber-attack would be. He talks to many experts and officials, pushing and probing for answers. It is a bit disconcerting that he mostly receives vague and inadequate answers. Few officials even focus on this problem. We are spending millions of dollars on TSA lines at the airport, but very little on this far more dangerous situation – the safety and security of our electrical system. Koppel does talk to some people who are addressing the problem. There are small communities of survivalists and “preppers” but they are fairly isolated; they couldn’t handle the millions of people who would be affected. Oddly enough, the Mormons are the major community of any size that is concretely preparing for a potential disaster situation.
The book will leave you with a very worrisome outlook. Koppel does not really provide a solution at the conclusion of the book. He does say that at least we have to identify the problem. True, but we really have to start doing something about it. There could be one thing good about the recent hacker attacks that have been revealed during this election season – if we become aware of the prevalence of such attacks and do something about them. And one of the main places to start would be the electrical system. As much as I worry about earthquakes (living in Los Angeles), and I do, a major failure of the electrical grid system would be even more disastrous. I hope everyone reads this book – especially our country’s leaders, and that they do something about it.
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LibraryThing member pw0327
Eminent journalist Ted Koppel has ventured in what is seemingly a mundane and unexciting area: the electric power grid in his latest book: Lights Out. What he neglected to say is that the book is actually a smoke screen for what he really wants to talk about: the national security apparatus, our
The electric power grid is an intricate and complicated piece of human construct; it ranks as the most ingenious human invention ever, ahead of the automobile, ahead of even the internet. The scale of the enterprise as it grew over the years is staggering. Since its growth came about gradually, and in an unplanned manner, the shape and form of the grid does not resemble anything that was well planned, it is a hodge podge of usable bits strung together to work together. There is some logic and reasoning to is, engineers being engineers, the national grid was redrawn, rebuilt, and redesigned to accommodate the latest state of the art technology. Unfortunately, the time lag for something that size is measured in decades.
Mr. Koppel’s selection of the national power grid is a prescient one. It is probably one of the most trusted and taken for granted piece of technology that we have in our life. No one gives a second thought to the reliability and resiliency of the entire grid. This is as intended by the electric utilities and the planners of the grid. It is, however, a misguided illusion, as Mr. Koppel pointed out in very prescient fashion in this book. He goes into detail in the first part of his book. He lays out in some detail, but not enough detail, about the vulnerabilities of the grid. He also failed to research deeper into the technological advances that have been advanced since the 2003 blackout: the work that the DOE and NIST had proposed. The idea is called the Smart Grid, and it encompasses a massive amount of forward looking thinking and technological to come to such a conclusion. The fact that this concept was completely ignored in the book seems to be a massive oversight at best and a failure of clear vision and rational judgement at worst. Because even though the idea of the Smart Grid may not be the solution that Mr. Koppel is seeking, it, and the myriad of ideas the Smart Grid encompasses, may reasonably alleviate some of the unknown threats that Mr. Koppel is addressing.
Mr. Koppel does do a very good job laying out the threat that he wants to talk about: the threat of cyber-attacks that may come stealthily, which can be launched by anyone rather than from a monolithic superpower, and may result in a crippled continent for months if not years. He does this brilliantly in Parts I and II of this book.
Unfortunately, this brings us to Part Iii of Lights Out. Mr. Koppel chose to deviate from the path and he began to delve into some examples of survivalists, preppers, and four chapters on the Mormons and their massive and sophisticated food, fuel, and consumer product distribution network. While all of these stories are interesting, I learned quite a bit from his forays into the prepper world, it certainly does not address the imminent danger that he so eloquently addressed in the previous two parts of the book.
The point being made by Mr. Koppel, is that the non-existent planning on the part of the federal, state, and local government, or the laughingly elementary plans are logistically impossible and unrealistic.
In the end, Mr. Koppel returns to the point that there is a dire need for the government and the private sector to overcome the comfortable and unrealistic view that something like an cyber-attack on the national grid is not imminent and would be far down in the list of imminent disasters that could befall us. In other words, he is preaching that Black Swans, as describe by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is quite real.
In his summary, Mr. Koppel also indirectly appropriated Mr. Taleb’s idea of the state of anti-fragile, i.e. be in a state of preparedness in order to not only be resilient in the face of unknown events, but be able to benefit and profit from the event.
The tendency of modern bureaucracy to lean towards Just-In-Time planning and thinking is one of the themes that Mr. Koppel drew which resonated with me. His comparison of this probable situation with the Katrina disaster eloquently pointed out the tendency for us to only do what is necessary after the disaster has happened. Why be prepared for the unknown unless you knew what the unknown is, why stockpile supplies until you know the disaster is imminent. Mr. Koppel’s point is that you will never know what is coming until it gets here, and then it is too late.
In the end, Mr. Koppel is a talented and detailed story teller. He is also an inveterate name dropper. Of course, being Ted Koppel, you have quite an impressive list of name you can call upon to name drop. He does so with such frequency that what was once just impressive became a bit forced and awkward.
I feel like this was a missed opportunity. Mr. Koppel could have made a stronger, more informed case for the need to invest in infrastructure which is anti-fragile to the new threat on the national grid. He could have made it a goal to examine the ideas being driven within the electric utility industry to buttress the existing national grid and to create the Smart Grid, which is designed with the cyber-security function in mind. He could have foregone some of the interesting digressions in this book to lay out the fundamental problems that creates the threat that he wished to examine. Instead he wrote a fine book, an interesting book, but a very flawed book, from the standpoint of achieving the purpose that he sought to achieve.
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lack of infrastructure, planning, and a clue as to how to proceed from keeping all of our citizens safe and fed through an extended disaster. He used the scenario of a cyber-attack to take down the national power grid as a conversation starter.The electric power grid is an intricate and complicated piece of human construct; it ranks as the most ingenious human invention ever, ahead of the automobile, ahead of even the internet. The scale of the enterprise as it grew over the years is staggering. Since its growth came about gradually, and in an unplanned manner, the shape and form of the grid does not resemble anything that was well planned, it is a hodge podge of usable bits strung together to work together. There is some logic and reasoning to is, engineers being engineers, the national grid was redrawn, rebuilt, and redesigned to accommodate the latest state of the art technology. Unfortunately, the time lag for something that size is measured in decades.
Mr. Koppel’s selection of the national power grid is a prescient one. It is probably one of the most trusted and taken for granted piece of technology that we have in our life. No one gives a second thought to the reliability and resiliency of the entire grid. This is as intended by the electric utilities and the planners of the grid. It is, however, a misguided illusion, as Mr. Koppel pointed out in very prescient fashion in this book. He goes into detail in the first part of his book. He lays out in some detail, but not enough detail, about the vulnerabilities of the grid. He also failed to research deeper into the technological advances that have been advanced since the 2003 blackout: the work that the DOE and NIST had proposed. The idea is called the Smart Grid, and it encompasses a massive amount of forward looking thinking and technological to come to such a conclusion. The fact that this concept was completely ignored in the book seems to be a massive oversight at best and a failure of clear vision and rational judgement at worst. Because even though the idea of the Smart Grid may not be the solution that Mr. Koppel is seeking, it, and the myriad of ideas the Smart Grid encompasses, may reasonably alleviate some of the unknown threats that Mr. Koppel is addressing.
Mr. Koppel does do a very good job laying out the threat that he wants to talk about: the threat of cyber-attacks that may come stealthily, which can be launched by anyone rather than from a monolithic superpower, and may result in a crippled continent for months if not years. He does this brilliantly in Parts I and II of this book.
Unfortunately, this brings us to Part Iii of Lights Out. Mr. Koppel chose to deviate from the path and he began to delve into some examples of survivalists, preppers, and four chapters on the Mormons and their massive and sophisticated food, fuel, and consumer product distribution network. While all of these stories are interesting, I learned quite a bit from his forays into the prepper world, it certainly does not address the imminent danger that he so eloquently addressed in the previous two parts of the book.
The point being made by Mr. Koppel, is that the non-existent planning on the part of the federal, state, and local government, or the laughingly elementary plans are logistically impossible and unrealistic.
In the end, Mr. Koppel returns to the point that there is a dire need for the government and the private sector to overcome the comfortable and unrealistic view that something like an cyber-attack on the national grid is not imminent and would be far down in the list of imminent disasters that could befall us. In other words, he is preaching that Black Swans, as describe by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is quite real.
In his summary, Mr. Koppel also indirectly appropriated Mr. Taleb’s idea of the state of anti-fragile, i.e. be in a state of preparedness in order to not only be resilient in the face of unknown events, but be able to benefit and profit from the event.
The tendency of modern bureaucracy to lean towards Just-In-Time planning and thinking is one of the themes that Mr. Koppel drew which resonated with me. His comparison of this probable situation with the Katrina disaster eloquently pointed out the tendency for us to only do what is necessary after the disaster has happened. Why be prepared for the unknown unless you knew what the unknown is, why stockpile supplies until you know the disaster is imminent. Mr. Koppel’s point is that you will never know what is coming until it gets here, and then it is too late.
In the end, Mr. Koppel is a talented and detailed story teller. He is also an inveterate name dropper. Of course, being Ted Koppel, you have quite an impressive list of name you can call upon to name drop. He does so with such frequency that what was once just impressive became a bit forced and awkward.
I feel like this was a missed opportunity. Mr. Koppel could have made a stronger, more informed case for the need to invest in infrastructure which is anti-fragile to the new threat on the national grid. He could have made it a goal to examine the ideas being driven within the electric utility industry to buttress the existing national grid and to create the Smart Grid, which is designed with the cyber-security function in mind. He could have foregone some of the interesting digressions in this book to lay out the fundamental problems that creates the threat that he wished to examine. Instead he wrote a fine book, an interesting book, but a very flawed book, from the standpoint of achieving the purpose that he sought to achieve.
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LibraryThing member BettyTaylor56
Well-known journalist Ted Koppel presents a case for why our government needs to tackle the consequences of a possible cyberattack on our country’s power grids. His research makes it clear that neither the government nor industry is prepared to quickly respond to the needs of the people nor
He interviewed executives at power companies and within the government. Since most electric power companies are privately owned, the federal government cannot impose security and maintenance standards upon the industry. It was surprising to learn that local distributors of electricity are not governed by any national regulatory standards. The industry regulates itself – votes on which regulations will be mandatory. Of course, industry does not want to spend money that they cannot be positive they would actually need to spend. If there is no attack, they consider the expenditure wasted. (Hmmm, kind of like our auto and house insurance…)
It seems that we are currently vulnerable to everything. And while both industry and government recognize the threat, no one moves on it. They all claim that it is hard to focus on possible threats when there are so many existing problems to deal with – a crisis that may never happen.
I found the book easy to read and absorb. Having work for the federal government I could clearly imagine the lack of action on such a critical issue. Overall, it is somewhat depressing knowing that we are not a country that could go without power for a long period of time without significant loss of life. But the book was interesting and I learned quite a bit.
Thank you to LibraryThing for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.
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recover quickly from the attack.He interviewed executives at power companies and within the government. Since most electric power companies are privately owned, the federal government cannot impose security and maintenance standards upon the industry. It was surprising to learn that local distributors of electricity are not governed by any national regulatory standards. The industry regulates itself – votes on which regulations will be mandatory. Of course, industry does not want to spend money that they cannot be positive they would actually need to spend. If there is no attack, they consider the expenditure wasted. (Hmmm, kind of like our auto and house insurance…)
It seems that we are currently vulnerable to everything. And while both industry and government recognize the threat, no one moves on it. They all claim that it is hard to focus on possible threats when there are so many existing problems to deal with – a crisis that may never happen.
I found the book easy to read and absorb. Having work for the federal government I could clearly imagine the lack of action on such a critical issue. Overall, it is somewhat depressing knowing that we are not a country that could go without power for a long period of time without significant loss of life. But the book was interesting and I learned quite a bit.
Thank you to LibraryThing for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member SamSattler
Ted Koppel’s Lights Out is one of the scariest books you are going to read this year, or even anytime in the next five years - if what the book predicts hasn’t already happened by then. And you don’t have to take my word for it, because a look at the book’s subtitle says it all: “A
It is the third part of that subtitle that I find particularly terrifying. I have survived the aftermath of a major hurricane or two. The last one knocked out my electricity for exactly 14 days, but during that extended downtime most of the rest of the city had regained power, so the social structure around me did not break down. While living without power even for two weeks is no picnic, food, water, and cool air were available only a short drive away.
Now imagine that your state and all of those surrounding yours are without power and that no one can tell you how long it will be before power is restored. Communication has, in fact, broken down to the extent that no one can even tell you why the grid is down. How long do you think it will be before for food and water shortages develop in the region’s major cities? How long before the smell of raw sewage forces everyone from their homes? How long before armed thugs decide it is the perfect time to simply take what they want and to hell with everyone else? According to Koppel, you have maybe a week if you are lucky. Simply put, it very soon becomes an “every man for himself and his family” situation.
Lights Out is divided into the three sections indicated by the book’s subtitle. “Cyberattack” sets the stage by describing exactly how malicious hackers have already penetrated the computer systems that control the distribution of electricity throughout the United States. Koppel, and the experts he interviewed, believe that software “Trojan horses” have already been left behind by the governments of Russia and China, and he fears that Islamist terrorists representing groups such as ISIS are close to having the capability of doing the same thing. Bad as this is, the unleashing of the contents of those Trojan horses already in place is not extremely likely because the Russian and Chinese governments understand that the U.S. has placed similar malware inside key computer systems of their own governments. This is the nuclear determent theory of the Cold War replayed.
No, what scares Koppel and his experts is the possibility that terrorist-related hackers might do the same thing – and they have nothing to lose by triggering the collapse of the electricity grid of the U.S. The main goal of groups like ISIS is to bring the world to its end, so those groups would welcome both the complete collapse of the U.S. social structure and any attempt at retaliation on our government’s part. But how do you even begin to retaliate against a group with no government and nothing to lose? And identifying the source of such attacks is not easy, making it likely that the U.S. would retaliate against the wrong country or group anyway. The terrorists are holding all the best cards in any such confrontation.
The second section of Lights Out makes very clear just how unprepared this country is if and when such an attack occurs. Not only are there no emergency plans in place to handle such a catastrophe, experts do not even agree that it can happen. That means that nothing…nothing…is being done to prepare the country for what could be a war to forever end the United States as we know it today.
I found the book’s third section, “Surviving the Aftermath,” to be a little disappointing. I came away from this section without picking up any ideas that I, as an individual concerned about surviving the certain chaos that will quickly develop following the kind of massive and extended power outage that Koppel predicts, could actually use. Rather than offer the kind of advice I hoped for, the author more often points out the futility and ultimate foolishness of most of what individual “survivalists” and more structured groups (such as the Mormon Church) are already doing.
So where are we? Most people are not even aware of the potential threat, much less trying to do anything to keep themselves and their families safe if the threat materializes. Most politicians don’t even want to talk about this. Industry experts cannot agree on the likelihood of such an attack on the U.S. or what to do if it does happen. Almost no one with any authority is talking about making the changes that would safeguard the collapse of this country’s electrical grid. And the time bomb already inside that grid continues to tick.
Yes, Lights Out will make readers very, very nervous, but we have to hope that the right people read this book and take it seriously. Read it yourself. Talk about it and pass it on to others who will read it and talk about it. Do your best to help Lights Out get the attention it deserves.
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Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath.”It is the third part of that subtitle that I find particularly terrifying. I have survived the aftermath of a major hurricane or two. The last one knocked out my electricity for exactly 14 days, but during that extended downtime most of the rest of the city had regained power, so the social structure around me did not break down. While living without power even for two weeks is no picnic, food, water, and cool air were available only a short drive away.
Now imagine that your state and all of those surrounding yours are without power and that no one can tell you how long it will be before power is restored. Communication has, in fact, broken down to the extent that no one can even tell you why the grid is down. How long do you think it will be before for food and water shortages develop in the region’s major cities? How long before the smell of raw sewage forces everyone from their homes? How long before armed thugs decide it is the perfect time to simply take what they want and to hell with everyone else? According to Koppel, you have maybe a week if you are lucky. Simply put, it very soon becomes an “every man for himself and his family” situation.
Lights Out is divided into the three sections indicated by the book’s subtitle. “Cyberattack” sets the stage by describing exactly how malicious hackers have already penetrated the computer systems that control the distribution of electricity throughout the United States. Koppel, and the experts he interviewed, believe that software “Trojan horses” have already been left behind by the governments of Russia and China, and he fears that Islamist terrorists representing groups such as ISIS are close to having the capability of doing the same thing. Bad as this is, the unleashing of the contents of those Trojan horses already in place is not extremely likely because the Russian and Chinese governments understand that the U.S. has placed similar malware inside key computer systems of their own governments. This is the nuclear determent theory of the Cold War replayed.
No, what scares Koppel and his experts is the possibility that terrorist-related hackers might do the same thing – and they have nothing to lose by triggering the collapse of the electricity grid of the U.S. The main goal of groups like ISIS is to bring the world to its end, so those groups would welcome both the complete collapse of the U.S. social structure and any attempt at retaliation on our government’s part. But how do you even begin to retaliate against a group with no government and nothing to lose? And identifying the source of such attacks is not easy, making it likely that the U.S. would retaliate against the wrong country or group anyway. The terrorists are holding all the best cards in any such confrontation.
The second section of Lights Out makes very clear just how unprepared this country is if and when such an attack occurs. Not only are there no emergency plans in place to handle such a catastrophe, experts do not even agree that it can happen. That means that nothing…nothing…is being done to prepare the country for what could be a war to forever end the United States as we know it today.
I found the book’s third section, “Surviving the Aftermath,” to be a little disappointing. I came away from this section without picking up any ideas that I, as an individual concerned about surviving the certain chaos that will quickly develop following the kind of massive and extended power outage that Koppel predicts, could actually use. Rather than offer the kind of advice I hoped for, the author more often points out the futility and ultimate foolishness of most of what individual “survivalists” and more structured groups (such as the Mormon Church) are already doing.
So where are we? Most people are not even aware of the potential threat, much less trying to do anything to keep themselves and their families safe if the threat materializes. Most politicians don’t even want to talk about this. Industry experts cannot agree on the likelihood of such an attack on the U.S. or what to do if it does happen. Almost no one with any authority is talking about making the changes that would safeguard the collapse of this country’s electrical grid. And the time bomb already inside that grid continues to tick.
Yes, Lights Out will make readers very, very nervous, but we have to hope that the right people read this book and take it seriously. Read it yourself. Talk about it and pass it on to others who will read it and talk about it. Do your best to help Lights Out get the attention it deserves.
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LibraryThing member UnderMyAppleTree
Just the thought of no power for more than a few days gives me nightmares. Sure, we can handle a couple of days with no electricity, but according to this book, only one in ten of us would survive a year under those conditions. So how likely is it that this could happen? It depends on whom you
Ted Koppel thoroughly researched the likelihood of an attack on our power grid and how it could be carried out, and his findings are troubling. There are multiple ways to take down a huge section of the North American grid, which is interconnected. Our government sees it as an unlikely scenario, and if it did happen it would be localized.
Some of this reminds me of Y2K where none of the doomsday predictions happened. But were they prevented because of the huge drive to correct deficiencies in the computer code? I think so. And while there is some scary stuff here, I feel it’s better for the public to know about our vulnerabilities than to stick our heads in the sand. The bad guys already know – we aren’t giving away any secrets.
A worthwhile read and an excellent choice to listen to.
Audio production:
While I do have a copy of the book, I spent more than half my time listening to the audio book. Ted Koppel did the narration and he didn’t disappoint. With perfect pacing and emphasis, he conveyed a needed sense of urgency.
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believe.Ted Koppel thoroughly researched the likelihood of an attack on our power grid and how it could be carried out, and his findings are troubling. There are multiple ways to take down a huge section of the North American grid, which is interconnected. Our government sees it as an unlikely scenario, and if it did happen it would be localized.
Some of this reminds me of Y2K where none of the doomsday predictions happened. But were they prevented because of the huge drive to correct deficiencies in the computer code? I think so. And while there is some scary stuff here, I feel it’s better for the public to know about our vulnerabilities than to stick our heads in the sand. The bad guys already know – we aren’t giving away any secrets.
A worthwhile read and an excellent choice to listen to.
Audio production:
While I do have a copy of the book, I spent more than half my time listening to the audio book. Ted Koppel did the narration and he didn’t disappoint. With perfect pacing and emphasis, he conveyed a needed sense of urgency.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Unkletom
In my online book collection I have a shelf assigned dystopian novels such as The Stand , The Walking Dead, and Day of the Triffids. Once, in a somewhat whimsical mood, I renamed it my ‘we’re all gonna die’ shelf. Lights out, Ted Koppel’s Investigation into the threat that a cyberattack
Veteran newsman Koppel, with a consummate skill born of 42 years spent with ABC, lays the groundwork for a story that is every bit as terrifying as anything Stephen King could imagine. What makes ‘Lights Out’ all the scarier is that it is not imagination. A week doesn’t go by where we don’t hear about hackers successfully compromising the computer systems of a company or government agency. The second page of the book describes the recent hacking of millions of federal employees' private information. On the very day I started it my wife, a national laboratory employee, received two rejection letters for credit cards she never applied for. As unpleasant as this kind of cyberattack is for us, it is just the tip of the iceberg of what Ted Koppel's book is about.
The first half of the book describes in frightening detail the weaknesses that exist in America’s three major power grids. It tells how likely it is that a concerted attack may black out large parts of the country for months or even years, and how ill-prepared the electrical power industry and the government is to prevent it or deal with the aftermath. If it does happen (and many experts say the word to use is ‘when’) the prediction is that fewer than ten percent of the population would survive a power outage of one year's duration. Solutions have been proposed and legislation has been introduced to address this but, and this should surprise no one, that legislation has never made it out of committee.
The second half of the book is called ‘Surviving the Aftermath’ and addresses how people are preparing for this and other catastrophic events. These options range from renting condos in a repurposed Kansas missile silo to hiring an ex-special forces soldier to hustle your family to a waiting speedboat stored at a secret mooring on the East River for escape to a yacht waiting offshore. About the only thing these plans have in common is that they cost a lot more than the average suburbanite has to spend on post-apocalypse preparation, or anything for that matter. It also devotes three chapters to plans the Church of Latter-day Saints and their comprehensive preparations for disaster. While this provides ideas of what society can do if we work together it gives little in the way of hope for individuals wanting to make preparations themselves.
The bottom line is that we, in pursuit of convenience, economic advantage, and the right to privacy, have created an open door to allow anyone with the know-how and the will to destroy the United States without firing a shot. The ability for hackers to cripple one or more of our three major power grids for an extended period of time already exists.
* The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
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directed against our electrical grid, gets the dubious honor of being the first non-fiction book to be placed on that shelf.Veteran newsman Koppel, with a consummate skill born of 42 years spent with ABC, lays the groundwork for a story that is every bit as terrifying as anything Stephen King could imagine. What makes ‘Lights Out’ all the scarier is that it is not imagination. A week doesn’t go by where we don’t hear about hackers successfully compromising the computer systems of a company or government agency. The second page of the book describes the recent hacking of millions of federal employees' private information. On the very day I started it my wife, a national laboratory employee, received two rejection letters for credit cards she never applied for. As unpleasant as this kind of cyberattack is for us, it is just the tip of the iceberg of what Ted Koppel's book is about.
The first half of the book describes in frightening detail the weaknesses that exist in America’s three major power grids. It tells how likely it is that a concerted attack may black out large parts of the country for months or even years, and how ill-prepared the electrical power industry and the government is to prevent it or deal with the aftermath. If it does happen (and many experts say the word to use is ‘when’) the prediction is that fewer than ten percent of the population would survive a power outage of one year's duration. Solutions have been proposed and legislation has been introduced to address this but, and this should surprise no one, that legislation has never made it out of committee.
The second half of the book is called ‘Surviving the Aftermath’ and addresses how people are preparing for this and other catastrophic events. These options range from renting condos in a repurposed Kansas missile silo to hiring an ex-special forces soldier to hustle your family to a waiting speedboat stored at a secret mooring on the East River for escape to a yacht waiting offshore. About the only thing these plans have in common is that they cost a lot more than the average suburbanite has to spend on post-apocalypse preparation, or anything for that matter. It also devotes three chapters to plans the Church of Latter-day Saints and their comprehensive preparations for disaster. While this provides ideas of what society can do if we work together it gives little in the way of hope for individuals wanting to make preparations themselves.
The bottom line is that we, in pursuit of convenience, economic advantage, and the right to privacy, have created an open door to allow anyone with the know-how and the will to destroy the United States without firing a shot. The ability for hackers to cripple one or more of our three major power grids for an extended period of time already exists.
* The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
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LibraryThing member LivelyLady
Koppel portrays the possibility of a cyberattack against this nation. He demonstrates how we would be unable to survive long with any large electrical grid problems. And there are chapters with those small groups or families who are preparing. I enjoyed hearing about the Mormons, but wonder if they
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really would not use their guns to survive. The book seemed long and rambling. I thought a power point presentation or bulleted text would make this more palatable. Koppel did not propose any solutions but did define the problem. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bricker
Lights Out is an eye opening look at the impact a cyber attack could have on America. Koppel speaks with industry leaders and preppers to establish just how unprepared we are to handle a major event. A very thought provoking read about something that few really think about...even the people in
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positions of power that would be responsible for handling the aftermath. Show Less
LibraryThing member mattdocmartin
Pretty scary stuff. We learn that the US is woefully unprepared in the case of an attack on our electrical grid. A lot of very worrying evidence is presented, in sometime stark terms.
I was a little taken out by a multi-chapter focus on Mormonism, which makes me take it down 1 star.
I was a little taken out by a multi-chapter focus on Mormonism, which makes me take it down 1 star.
LibraryThing member Kappadeemom
A scary and depressing look at what would happen in America if a terrorist decided to take out our power grid through cyberterrorism. Very informative by a trusted journalist, but it was hard to read. Sometimes it was gut-wrenching to think about how powerless (literally) we would be if we had no
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electricity. People in hospitals would die. We would not have gasoline to power vehicles. How would we treat our fellow humans who had the means to survive? Gripping read. Thank you to LibraryThing for the ARC. Show Less
LibraryThing member whoizme8
Ted Koppel has done a tremendous job of researching this problem in our country. How open, unguarded, and fragile our power grid is. Some power grid parts are over 40 years old, individually made, requiring up to a half year to be replaced. They are open by cyber attack something they were not
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"
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designed to handle because they were created and put together long before there was such a thing as cyber warfare. This is an eye opening, scarry, but true presentation of our real condition and what would happen if a large portion of the grid went down. We are really unprepared to respond to a cyber attack on the power grid and are making no effort to be ready for the horrendous problems it would bring.J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"
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LibraryThing member lanewillson
Having lived in the world I was told was finishing its “last days” since the mid-1970’s, I’ve developed a certain callousness to all forms of apocrypha. Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel, due out tomorrow, is not the latest version of
Koppel is no stranger to presenting frightful situations to his audience. Many first recognized his skill as a journalist when he transitioned ABC’s The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage into Nightline. Koppel’s familiar cadence and style are present in his writing, and make it very easy to join him in looking at this potential disaster.
Thankfully, we have yet to experience a cyberattack of this nature, but Koppel uses historical events to interpolate the consequences of a seriously damaged power grid. In 2003, millions of homes and businesses from northern Ohio to parts of southeast Canada were without power for as much as two weeks. Our power grid is an unbelievably complicated balancing act of power creation and power consumption. A large enough disturbance on either side of the equation and the system is compromised. The simplicity of our home’s power grid creates the perfect breeding ground for overconfidence in the grid as a whole.
Many elements of the nation’s power grid are custom made machines, decades old, that enable electricity to be sent vast distances, and then converted back into current that can be distributed to local homes and business. So vast are these transformers that when originally installed, many had to be transported on custom rail cars that no longer exist. There is no so simple as resetting a breaker, and going back to watch the rest of the game. It is very plausible that weeks could become months or even longer to repair those components.
Thankfully, even if attackers successfully breached electronic firewalls, there is no way they could cause harm to machinery, right? Koppel’s example comes from the successful cyberattack by the United States and her allies on the Iranian nuclear program. After gaining access to the software running Iranian centrifuges, minute adjustments were made to their speed making the materials being processed useless, several of the centrifuges damage, and setting the Iranians back as much as two years. It’s easy to see that hacking into the power grid’s software would be difficult, but if achieved, could create a significant amount of damage.
Hurricane Katrina provides a far too real look at the challenges faced by those caught in a prolonged outage, especially in large metropolitan areas. How do you pump water to the seven million residents of Manhattan Island? How do you pump out the human waste? Elevators, hospitals, phones and many thousands of devices become useless without power. In responding to Katrina, every level of government failed the citizens of New Orleans.
Koppel does an excellent job of avoiding political dogma, his eyes firmly attached to the danger of a successful cyberattack, giving the reader no alternative to looking the danger straight in the eye.
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“the end is near” story that has dogged humankind since we were amphibians. It is a dispassionate, reasoned, and unrelenting look at the consequences of a successful cyberattack on America’s power grid. And it is terrifying. Koppel is no stranger to presenting frightful situations to his audience. Many first recognized his skill as a journalist when he transitioned ABC’s The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage into Nightline. Koppel’s familiar cadence and style are present in his writing, and make it very easy to join him in looking at this potential disaster.
Thankfully, we have yet to experience a cyberattack of this nature, but Koppel uses historical events to interpolate the consequences of a seriously damaged power grid. In 2003, millions of homes and businesses from northern Ohio to parts of southeast Canada were without power for as much as two weeks. Our power grid is an unbelievably complicated balancing act of power creation and power consumption. A large enough disturbance on either side of the equation and the system is compromised. The simplicity of our home’s power grid creates the perfect breeding ground for overconfidence in the grid as a whole.
Many elements of the nation’s power grid are custom made machines, decades old, that enable electricity to be sent vast distances, and then converted back into current that can be distributed to local homes and business. So vast are these transformers that when originally installed, many had to be transported on custom rail cars that no longer exist. There is no so simple as resetting a breaker, and going back to watch the rest of the game. It is very plausible that weeks could become months or even longer to repair those components.
Thankfully, even if attackers successfully breached electronic firewalls, there is no way they could cause harm to machinery, right? Koppel’s example comes from the successful cyberattack by the United States and her allies on the Iranian nuclear program. After gaining access to the software running Iranian centrifuges, minute adjustments were made to their speed making the materials being processed useless, several of the centrifuges damage, and setting the Iranians back as much as two years. It’s easy to see that hacking into the power grid’s software would be difficult, but if achieved, could create a significant amount of damage.
Hurricane Katrina provides a far too real look at the challenges faced by those caught in a prolonged outage, especially in large metropolitan areas. How do you pump water to the seven million residents of Manhattan Island? How do you pump out the human waste? Elevators, hospitals, phones and many thousands of devices become useless without power. In responding to Katrina, every level of government failed the citizens of New Orleans.
Koppel does an excellent job of avoiding political dogma, his eyes firmly attached to the danger of a successful cyberattack, giving the reader no alternative to looking the danger straight in the eye.
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LibraryThing member octafoil40
This book begins with an event which took place in February at 1:00 a.m. on April 16 , 2013. On that day several saboteurs attacked an underground vault south of San Jose, CA, containing AT&T's fiber optic telecommunications fiber-optic communication cables. Then they knocked out seventeen giant
I personally recall reading a newspaper account of this event at the time. It occurred to me then that it was possibly " ... a dry run for a later
far more devastating act of sabotage". Yet, I had not subsequently heard of
any follow up investigation at the time--- until this book! Mr. Koppel's book is properly sub-titled "A Cyberattacks, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath". He points out that local distributors of electricity are not governed by any national regulatory standards. Thus "... distribution of electricity (even to the NSA), for example is regulated only on a state-by-state basis". He further points out that there is no monetary incentive among the various independent suppliers of electricity to solve this problem.
The author then sets forth all the other types of entities throughout the USA that have a similar problem ---- all faced with a monetary profit motive not to be solved. Unfortunately, (and I don't blame him) the author has no solution and our various governments are too busy solving other current problems.
The book is a quick read - and scary! I highly recommend it.
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transformers. Based on the shell casings found at the scene, it is believed that the gunmen used AK-47 assault rifles. The perpetrators have never been identified.I personally recall reading a newspaper account of this event at the time. It occurred to me then that it was possibly " ... a dry run for a later
far more devastating act of sabotage". Yet, I had not subsequently heard of
any follow up investigation at the time--- until this book! Mr. Koppel's book is properly sub-titled "A Cyberattacks, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath". He points out that local distributors of electricity are not governed by any national regulatory standards. Thus "... distribution of electricity (even to the NSA), for example is regulated only on a state-by-state basis". He further points out that there is no monetary incentive among the various independent suppliers of electricity to solve this problem.
The author then sets forth all the other types of entities throughout the USA that have a similar problem ---- all faced with a monetary profit motive not to be solved. Unfortunately, (and I don't blame him) the author has no solution and our various governments are too busy solving other current problems.
The book is a quick read - and scary! I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member bonnieclyde
Ted Koppel uses his platform as a respected journalist to share his ideas on a major threat the U.S. faces. Our vulnerable electric power grid is a target for terrorists from around the globe, and he calls for action to protect it. This is a very well written and thought provoking book.
LibraryThing member Dawn1361
Entering the world of a novel is my leisure enjoyment and is a bit of escapism. Most of my choices are novels. I received a copy of Ted Koppel's "Lights Out" through the Early Reviewer program. Koppel's ability to present complicated thoughts into easy to grasp language is what makes this book a 4
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star review. While not lengthy at only 250 pages, it is not a page turner because the topic is a heavy one. No need to turn to a scary novel because this topic and his exposure of our lack of preparedness is scary enough. His acknowledgement of the American culture is one of reactionary is on target. Keeping our heads in the sand and then working the problem later has been proven in our history. But working the problem, if the problem eventually arises and it is only a matter of time, will be a problem of unimaginable depth. He concludes in one of the final chapters, "It would be the ultimate irony if the most connected, the most media-saturated population in history failed to disseminate the most elementary survival plan until the power was out and it no longer had the capacity to do so." Koppel offers the amazing preparedness of the Mormons as an example which I found to be astounding. They are quietly working the problem while our reactionary governmental departments stand aside hoping that when the problem arrives, they will not be at the helm. The face of war has rapidly changed. A cyber attack is on the horizon. "Those charged with restoring the nation after such an attack will have to come to terms with the notion that the Internet, among its many, many virtues, is also a weapon of mass destruction." May this book stir governmental powers to hasten their preparedness and for the average citizen to begin to plan....what if. Show Less
LibraryThing member NickHowes
A three-part approach to a frightening scenario....a cyberattack that crashes the power grid, the aftermath for which the Feds are totally unprepared for. The first part of Koppel's book lays out the scenario and the background, the second deals with the lack of preparation, and the third with
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those people who have tried to prepare for it. The problem is 2that any government, however small (like North Korea) can be a world player and deliver a killing blow without fear of immediate retaliation. Russia and China are prevented by their vulnerability to a large-scale cyberwar, but a country like North Korea, with fewer than 2,000 internet connections, can ride out any retaliation short of nuclear airstrike. If and when an attack is traced back to them. And the aggressor doesn't have to be a state. Preppers and others have been aware of the issue for some time. This is a valuable book, hopefully a high-profile wake-up for government. Show Less
LibraryThing member MEENIEREADS
Silly me who likes dystopian novels thought this was fiction!
It was not.
However dry as it was it is a downright scary thought. Almost too much to think about preparing for. Especially if the darkness from on electricity goes on for months. I'll be dead from either disease or roaming criminals from
It was not.
However dry as it was it is a downright scary thought. Almost too much to think about preparing for. Especially if the darkness from on electricity goes on for months. I'll be dead from either disease or roaming criminals from
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the nearby, downtrodden city! So having lived 65 years without "the big one" not being dropped here I can only hope the same about a massive cyber attack! Show Less
LibraryThing member CharlesSvec
So is our power grid open to cyber attack? This book by Ted Koppel shows how that is a very real possibility. As a nation, it appears that we're very unprepared for this type of an attack. For me, the most interesting parts of the book was the sections talking about the preppers and what some folks
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are doing to help protect themselves and their families. I would highly encourage everyone to read this book, and to then consider what they can do to be better prepared. Show Less
LibraryThing member wearylibrarian
This book is a real eye opener. We may shrug off the possibility of a cyber attack but this eye opening book shows that a cyber attack is indeed a possibility. I was disappointed that there was little information on how to survive such an occurance.
LibraryThing member mgnm
What would happen if there were a terrorist attack on the U.S. power grid? How vulnerable are we? How can we respond? Ted Koppel, senior news analyst for National Public Radio and a man with a long and respectable broadcast journalism career, takes a look at these questions. What he finds is, to
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say the least, disturbing. The first part of the book deals with how an attack might occur; the second with industry and governmental prevention and response; and the last third with individual preparation. Interviews with power industry officials and government agency tasked with security and response are far from reassuring. Forewarned is not necessarily forearmed. If you need another thing to keep you awake at night, this is your book. It's an eye-opening look at a vulnerability we don't often think about. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cherylk
I found this book very informative and enlightening. I took my time reading this boo only because I wanted to digest the information that was in this book longer. Mr. Koppel brings the news to you and does not stray from it. Anyone interested and intrigued by world events or the cyber world will
In fact, the more that I read the more I realized that sometimes not knowing is living in happy bliss. What I mean by this is that when you don't know everything that is going on behind the scenes like a movie than you still enjoy that movie but how many times have you read about the way a movie was made and maybe your perspective about that movie was changed. All I have to say is that "Zombies" are not the thing that we need to fear but a cyberattack. Which the government already is aware of could happen and they have prepared while the rest of the world is living in "happy bliss".
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find this book a great read. I was drawn in by Mr. Koppel's writing. Also, I found his interviews with people fascinating. It did not seem like the things the people said were edited to the point that you could read this information on the internet and I did not feel like I was shorted by facts. In fact, the more that I read the more I realized that sometimes not knowing is living in happy bliss. What I mean by this is that when you don't know everything that is going on behind the scenes like a movie than you still enjoy that movie but how many times have you read about the way a movie was made and maybe your perspective about that movie was changed. All I have to say is that "Zombies" are not the thing that we need to fear but a cyberattack. Which the government already is aware of could happen and they have prepared while the rest of the world is living in "happy bliss".
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0553419986 / 9780553419986
Physical description
288 p.; 5.19 inches
Pages
288