War has always been part of human history across every part of the globe. It’s part of human nature to fight, to take things by force and create borders, and to hoard provisions for ourselves. The weapons of warfare have obviously progressed as humans have progressed. The more progress we’ve made, the more widespread and massively devastating our weapons have become.
We may have started with sticks and stones, but most modern day cyber warfare is barely even physical. “Soldiers” no longer have to travel from one place to another, nor even be in the vicinity of their enemy to deliver a severe blow. Today’s war is waged from a chair where hackers can destroy by interrupting grids, destroying technologies, and exploding power infrastructures.
Most Americans believe that the US is the safest country when it comes to protection against cyber attacks. Nevertheless, we aren’t absolutely certain that our government’s defenses will be enough. This concern is only exacerbated by the Russian war on Ukraine and even by the pandemic.
The war on Ukraine seemed to be a cyberwar test run to see how successful their cyber attacks could be. While Ukraine’s defenses aren’t as advanced as the US’, their technological infrastructure is similar to the rest of the Western world. This makes Ukraine a perfect testing ground for technological devastation.
In 2022, cyberattacks have grown astronomically, including a 24 hour period in March, in which 6 billion potential attacks occurred all over the globe. These attacks are growing in sophistication and it may only be a matter of time before the US experiences an attack beyond our defensive capabilities.
Although it may seem unimaginable for a large-scale cyber attack to ever breach our borders, the fact is that it isn’t out of the question. We would all be wise to be as prepared as possible in the case of such an event.
A massive cyber attack would have effects similar to a natural disaster, with power outages, downed cell phone services, numerous deaths, and a halt to normal daily activities.
Some of the most important precautions to take are to backup important files offline, back up emails offline, install generators, store food and water, and have cash on hand.
While the US is generally considered the safest country against cyber attacks, attacks are becoming more difficult to combat, and they could happen quite suddenly. We can’t live in fear of such a disaster, but we can prepare ourselves in case the unimaginable becomes a reality.
