I will admit that I tend to be a somewhat paranoid person. That is probably why I'm more concerned than others about Wyoming being attacked. Not by armed forces, but our power grid being damaged in a cyber-attack.

There are a lot of new stories discussing the current crisis in Iran and their hacking groups. For the record, their hacking groups have a reputation for being among the most prolific in the world, as Wikipedia documentsUSA Today shared a story about a potential cyber-war with Iran and how vulnerable we are. They quote a cyber-security expert named Paul Martini who made this chilling statement:

In the worst-case scenario, Iranian hackers "could instantaneously shut down an entire power grid"

There's another very recent story by ZDNet on the same subject. It's a reality that hacking groups indeed do have their eyes on the possibility of attempting to take down our power grid. They quote security company Dragos who said...

The threat landscape focusing on electric utilities in North America is expansive and increasing

What would it mean if the power grid were indeed taken down by cyber-terrorists? You might want to sit down for this as the estimates are terrifying. It's one thing when a survival website like Urban Survivalist estimates that 90% of people would die. But, the website Power came up with the same scary 90% estimate when theorizing about the power grid being taken down by a pulse event.

Considering how cold our part of America gets during the winter with sub-zero temps not uncommon, I can't bear the thought of what would happen if this attack materialized.

What can you do to prepare? It's hard to cover all the potential situations, but Bug Out Bag Guide has some helpful tips on storing water and backup power like generators.

Go ahead and call me paranoid, but this is a scenario that I think more of us should really start to think about and prepare for if you have the means.

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