Picture this nightmare scenario: A U.S. adversary launches a cyberattack on a major United States electrical grid, knocking out power for 30 million to 50 million people.
Imagine, too, that the power would be down not for a few days but weeks or months on end.
|It could happen
The consequences — people caught in elevators, no lights or refrigeration, no running water to dispose of human waste, the loss of other mission-critical systems that cities depend on — could be devastating. If the cyberattack happened during a summer heat wave, and assuming also the spread of disease because of the lack of plumbing, the human toll could run into the thousands.
Sounds far-fetched? It doesn’t to veteran journalist Ted Koppel, the former anchor and managing editor of ABC’s "Nightline"and now a senior contributor to CBS News’ "Sunday Morning" show. Koppel presented the closing general session of NAILBA 35 — the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, held Nov. 17-19 — and it was an eye-opener.
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