COULD YOUR FAMILY SURVIVE CYBER ATTACK

We have all heard the drill…keep three days of water and food on hand in case of a major storm. In Minnesota and other northern climates, you should also be prepared to go without electricity and heat.

Cyber terrorism poses an entirely different, far worse threat. You may need weeks, months or even years of supplies. For starters, cyber terrorism has the potential to destroy virtually our entire infrastructure, electronics, banking system, communications devices, and food distribution; not to mention the computers that run our vehicles.

The threat is real and it is terrifying, but it is not new. What is new is how we have bought into science and who our enemies are. We are the most vulnerable nation on the planet thanks to our “all in” commitment to electronics.

United States scientists and military planners were running doomsday scenarios long before Newt Gingrich heard about electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) generators. In the 1950s the U.S. experimented extensively with atomic and nuclear weapons and scientists discovered that such explosions unleashed an invisible electronic tsunami destroying all electronic devices in its path including radios, television, computers and everything a computer runs.

We have lived with the threat of nuclear devastation and EMPs since the Cold War with Russia, but historically we have focused on nation-states. China, Korea, Iran and other nations already possess EMP technology and pose some degree of danger, but, as with Russia in the Cold War, the threat of mutually-assured destruction will hold them at bay.

Our greatest threat is a rogue terrorist. These devices are not extremely difficult to obtain, and in the hands of a fanatic bent on martyrdom there is little defense.

On the positive side, our scientists have more history and experience in this area than anyone and our best national security minds are working tirelessly to thwart any such attack.