Will You be Ready When the Lights Go Out?

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Originally posted on April 2, 2018.

A recent Congressional Research Service report warns that since 2014 “security risks to the power grid have become an even greater concern in the electric utility industry.” The report cautions that the power industry “has not necessarily reached the level of physical security needed based on the sector’s own assessments of risk.”

“There is widespread belief that bulk power critical assets are vulnerable to physical attack, that such an attack potentially could have catastrophic consequences, and that the risks of such attacks are growing,” explains the report. “But the exact nature of such potential attacks and the capability of perpetrators to successfully execute them are uncertain.”

There’s no downside to you and your family in making basic preparations for a short-term failure in our electric grid. Over the intermediate and long-term it would be to your benefit to consider ways to reduce your reliability on it.

NERC Standards for Bulk Power Physical Security: Is the Grid More Secure?