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Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath Kindle Edition

by Ted Koppel (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared.

“Fascinating, frightening, and beyond timely.”—Anderson Cooper

Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. Tens of millions of people over several states are affected. For those without access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before.

It isn’t just a scenario. A well-designed attack on just one of the nation’s three electric power grids could cripple much of our infrastructure—and in the age of cyberwarfare, a laptop has become the only necessary weapon. Several nations hostile to the United States could launch such an assault at any time. In fact, as a former chief scientist of the NSA reveals, China and Russia have already penetrated the grid. And a cybersecurity advisor to President Obama believes that independent actors—from “hacktivists” to terrorists—have the capability as well. “It’s not a question of if,” says Centcom Commander General Lloyd Austin, “it’s a question of when.”

And yet, as Koppel makes clear, the federal government, while well prepared for natural disasters, has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power grid. The current Secretary of Homeland Security suggests keeping a battery-powered radio.

In the absence of a government plan, some individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands. Among the nation’s estimated three million “preppers,” we meet one whose doomsday retreat includes a newly excavated three-acre lake, stocked with fish, and a Wyoming homesteader so self-sufficient that he crafted the thousands of adobe bricks in his house by hand. We also see the unrivaled disaster preparedness of the Mormon church, with its enormous storehouses, high-tech dairies, orchards, and proprietary trucking company—the fruits of a long tradition of anticipating the worst. But how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive?

With urgency and authority, one of our most renowned journalists examines a threat unique to our time and evaluates potential ways to prepare for a catastrophe that is all but inevitable.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of November 2015: Investigative reporting that reads like fiction - or maybe I just wish it was fiction. In Lights Out, Ted Koppel flashes his journalism chops to introduce us to a frightening scenario, where hackers have tapped into and destroyed the United States power grids, leaving Americans crippled. Koppel outlines the many ways our government and response teams are far from prepared for an un-natural disaster that won't just last days or weeks - but months - and also shows us how a growing number of individuals have taken it upon themselves to prepare. Whether you pick up this book to escape into a good story, or for a potentially potent look into the future, you will not be disappointed. – Penny Mann

Review

"[Koppel's] suggestion that the United States look back to the era of mass civil defense as a model for how we might start to make preparations is provocative and sobering at the same time."
-The New York Times Book Review

“Ted Koppel has set off a firestorm with his explosive new book….A devastating cyberattack on our powergrid [is]…the risk Koppel has brought to the attention of the American public.”
-The Energy Times

"Lights Out is a timely warning about the vulnerability of America to a massive cyberattack that would cripple all we take for granted – electricity, communication, transportation. This is not science fiction. Hats off to Ted Koppel for putting us all on alert."
–TOM BROKAW

"Without a single bullet, bomb, or missile, a foreign enemy can now launch a devastating attack on the United States. Koppel explores how cyberwarfare threatens all of us, assesses the risks, criticizes the lack of government action, and finds praise for the Mormon way of disaster preparedness. I hope he's wrong about the danger but fear he's right on the mark."
–ERIC SCHLOSSER, author of Command and Control and Fast Food Nation

"Ted Koppel's unparalleled reporting skills are on full display in Lights Out. A fascinating and frightening look at just how vulnerable we are to a cyberattack."
–ANDERSON COOPER

“As readers would expect from Ted Koppel, Lights Out is dramatic but not hyped, tied to today’s news of shaky infrastructure and cyber attacks but also forward looking. This is an engrossing and significant book.”
—JAMES FALLOWS, national correspondent, The Atlantic; author of China Airborne

“In Lights Out, Ted Koppel uses his profound journalistic talents to raise pressing questions about our nation’s aging electrical grid. Through interview after interview with leading experts, Koppel paints a compelling picture of the impact cyberattacks may have on the grid. The book reveals the vulnerability of perhaps the most critical of all the infrastructures of our modern society: the electricity that keeps our modern society humming along.”
—MARC GOODMAN, author of Future Crimes

"Ted Koppel has written an important wake-up call for America on the threat of a crippling cyberattack. The danger we face right now is great, but so is the failure to acknowledge that the threat exists at all."
–LEON PANETTA, former U.S. Secretary of Defense

"Lights Out illuminates one of the greatest vulnerabilities to our nation – a cyberattack on our power grid. It is a wake-up call for all of us. We are the nation that created the internet; we should be the first to secure it. This powerful book could be the catalyst for just such a change."
–GENERAL (RET.) KEITH ALEXANDER, former director of the National Security Agency

"Try to imagine what a malevolent government, armed with the latest computer sophistication, could do to another nation's complex and entirely digital-dependent economy and social infrastructure. Fortunately, Ted Koppel has imagined it for us. We have been warned."
–GEORGE F. WILL

"When the lights go out after the cyberattack, this is the book everyone will read."
–RICHARD A. CLARKE, author of Cyber War and former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism

“A bold enumeration of the challenges posed by the digital age; an appeal to safeguard new instruments of human flourishing by studying the ways in which they could be exploited.”
—HENRY A. KISSINGER

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00UQERM4C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown (October 27, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 27, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1833 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 205 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #203,162 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #24 in Political Freedom (Kindle Store)
- #37 in Disaster Relief (Kindle Store)
- #41 in Terrorism (Kindle Store)

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4.3 3,183 ratings

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Ted Koppel

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Edward James Martin "Ted" Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008. Koppel is currently a senior news analyst for NPR and contributing analyst to BBC World News America, and contributes to NBC News.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by by Peabody Awards [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Sam Vanga

An excellent survey on the topic of America's dependence on an ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2017

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An excellent survey on the topic of America's dependence on an electrical grid which is less than secure (either to natural or man-made acts). Koppel approaches the subject with a clear and concise writing style. He does not use a "Chicken Little" tone, or an arrogantly dismissive one (as do some who follow this topic from an alarmed or complacent point of view as the case may be).

In a nutshell, Americans enjoy a quality of life largely due to our electrical grid. And, although the grid is robust enough to handle local disruptions (e.g. hurricane Katrina), it is not inherently as sturdy in the face of widely spread events such as the 1859 solar storm (aka The Carrington Event). Worse, there is very little "grand strategy" in terms of plans and spare part stockpiling to repair large scale damage to the grid, and some of the relevant tools require years to produce and very real specializations simply to move, much less reconnect.

This book is an excellent primer on the topic for non-specialists who are willing to think a bit without becoming "an expert."

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cspteja

A Newsman’s Public Warning

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2015

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As terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and racial tension dominate headlines and demand the attention of the American public, former ABC News and Nightline anchor Ted Koppel seeks to fire a warning flare amidst the cacophony of voices debating the nation’s most threatening specter in “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath”.

As a journalist with over forty years experience under his belt, and perhaps a deserved credibility as the last of a breed of Great American Anchorman including the likes of Rather, Brokaw, and Jennings, Koppel hopes to use his voice to draw attention to the threat of a large-scale attack on the U.S. power grid, the consequences of which, he details, would be “catastrophic for our national security and economy.”

Koppel first lays out the organization of the nation’s aging power grid separated into three main interconnections and numerous substations, all critical parts functioning to provide electrical power to a nation of over 300 million citizens. He details the regulatory bureaucracy involved in keeping these sites running safely both on the ground and in cyberspace before listing off the myriad of vulnerabilities available to be exploited by those seeking to disrupt the system — including anecdotal evidence that some parties may already have in small-scale test runs. Continuing on, he provides interviews with various government officials demonstrating an apparent pervasive lack of preparedness despite congressional acknowledgement that “timely reconstitution of the grid following a carefully targeted attack…would result in widespread outages for at least months to two years or more…” Concluding his exposé by presenting stories of groups in the general public that would be best prepared to survive the aftermath of such a widespread electrical and cyber outage, Koppel leaves the reader by contending the importance of preparation on a national as well as a personal scale, conveying in no uncertain terms that an attack on the grid is not a matter of “if” but rather “when.”

But, somewhere past the midway point of his book, Koppel seems to lose his way. After providing an excellent background on the nation’s power grid followed by countless discussions with experts detailing the threat to America posed by rival nation-states and independent actors, Koppel starts repeating himself. Furthermore (and more problematically), in the latter chapters of his book Koppel passes beyond the scope of his subject by closely detailing the stories of doomsday “preppers” who spend small fortunes and large parts of their free time stocking up on supplies and building fallout shelters to ready themselves for society’s impending collapse. Indeed, it is at this point that the reader experiences a tinge of doubtfulness as to the actual likelihood of a nationwide power failure when confronted with these sometimes outlandish characters who preach preparedness against the inevitable nuclear war, biological attack, or economic meltdown among a host of other possible world-ending scenarios that they see as eventualities. Indeed, this newfound skepticism experienced by the reader is a shame as it undermines Koppel’s presentation of a previously clear and present danger to our national security that has yet to receive the attention it is warranted. Koppel deviates further from his subject by inexplicably dedicating an entire chapter to expound on the structure of the Mormon organization in order to highlight the culture of disaster preparation prevalent within the religion. Consequently, by allocating a third of his book on networks of preppers — whether to serve as examples of adequate or insufficient planning, a point that is unclear —Koppel demonstrates that his book may have been better served as a shorter piece or a lengthy editorial in the New York Times.

Ultimately, though Ted Koppel’s voice trails off towards the end of “Lights Out,” and not surprisingly includes a few moments of his characteristic pro-government bias regarding the trade-off between personal privacy and public security, his title proves to be an informative and interesting read on an underestimated threat.

Review Post: https://medium.com/@cspteja/review-lights-out-by-ted-koppel-a-newsman-s-public-warning-c08f6f4df17e#.b1ad6vf3l

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All politics is local & so will the help be. El Paso County, Col. "Lighthouse PrimeTraining" or Seattle's SNAP.

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2015

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Koppel's well written book, which I have enjoyed so much I've bought 2 additional copies, is pregnant with the question, "Can you survive if you're YOYO?" Can you survive if you're on your own? That's pretty much where you're going to be . . . for a long time, with the loss of the grid. And, don't be looking to the federal or state government to come to the rescue. All politics is local and so will your help be when it can get to you--if it can. It will be local government and local citizens that will have to be their first help, and for a long, long time. Long time!

Koppel recently did an interview with Bill O'Reilly in which he said it's not just possible, it's likely we will lose our electrical grid to an attack from forces against us. Well, what would that be like, i.e., to lose our grid? It will be a return to the 18th century, and that's NASA's comment, but, from loss of the grid to a solar flare.

It's irrelevant if we lose the grid due to a terrorist or foreign government's attack or due to a super, category 5 solar flare. We missed just such a flare by 9 days in 2012, when our planet had moved out of the orbit where, if it had not moved from the path of the solar flare, here's what is said would be the result as reported in a NASA article, "Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012 http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/ 'If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news,'" and, the point is then made is that's where we would be knocked back to, the 18th century, if that flare had hit. [You will see in that article that it's reported that we have a 12% chance within the 10 years of the article's 2014 publication that earth will take a direct hit from a massive category 5 solar flare--and then the specter of the 18th century is there, but, not like a Hollywood movie, but, for real.]

Oh. As a footnote, has anyone read that the U.S. Navy has very recently returned to training the use of the quintessential 18th century sextant so that our ships can navigate by celestial lights if the man made lights go out, if satellite communications are interrupted?

At the highest levels in the military, things are being taken seriously but, we can't expect rescue by our national or state governments if we lose power. It's going to be local government and local leaders and local citizens who are going to have to step up. Seattle, Washington's SNAP (Seattle Neighbor's Actively Prepare) program is one good example. In El Paso County, Colorado, we have a corollary in the Lighthouse Project Training program, which SNAP has allowed to use its materials as an aid to that program.

So, what are you doing, what am I doing, what are we doing, to help ourselves when we're on our own? Get involved to get your local leadership, whether city or county, to wake up, if they're not already awake, and prepare for what comes with the loss of the electrical grid or any other major disaster, for that matter. Notice, for example, that Seattle's program isn't called the "SNAR" program--Seattle Neighbors Actively Reacting". There's a huge difference between REACTING and PREPARING

We've had the good fortune in El Paso County, Colorado's local government to have on its Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Peggy Littleton who years ago, looked over the horizon, so to speak, and saw the red skies of morning, and who has heeded the warning and lead many others in local government and community leadership to pay attention, who has helped many local citizens do the same, encouraging the local community to be prepared for any emergency event as may arise for which, if you can get past the first 72 hours, you have best opportunity to survive. She has taken the leadership on encouraging people to have their own 72 hour survival kits, with her not so jocular but well reported question in local news as follows, "Can you survive if you're YOYO?" Can you survive if you're on your own?

To help local citizens answer the "YOYO" question, El Paso County, as a result of Commissioner Littleton's force of character, initiated a very humorous way to make people think of emergency preparedness through its annual "Be Prepared . . . Don't be a Zombie Run" a 5K and 3K Zombie Run hosted by El Paso County Parks to showcase the need for all residents to develop their own family and workplace emergency preparedness plans.

Again, look to forward thinking communities such as Seattle, Washington's SNAP program. There are examples like that which need be considered by local leaders interested in helping their citizens be prepared for any emergency. And that is exactly what El Paso County Commissioner Littleton did, as she recognized how SNAP could be a source of useful information for our local model "The Lighthouse Prime Training and Support" See: http://www.lighthouseprime.com/#!training/cn4z for the modelling on the SNAP program.

The bottom line is that it will be neighbors helping neighbors, locals helping locals, and local government--for what it may be able to do when it too loses electricity--that will be the first line of help with the loss of the electric grid. Federal and state governments will be overwhelmed. What WILL you do when you're on your own?

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Streifine

Spannendes Buch über eine reale Bedrohung

Reviewed in Germany on June 28, 2021

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Spannendes Buch in der englischen Original-Fassung. Wer sich für Cyber-Security und Datenschutz interessiert, dürfte begeistert sein.

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Kindle Customer

There are solutions

Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2018

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This is a very important book. Unfortunately, the writer repeats himself a bit too much. But this is a subject that is so horrendous that Koppel can be forgiven for trying to drum it into our heads that the disastrous consequences of a penetration and destruction of the continent's power grids are not only possible but likely in the dynamics of the present imbalances of power. It requires more than a short-term fix to counter this threat!. The principal professional reviewer has done this much better than I and so I will refer the reader to his top positive review.

But I I wonder about a few things: Koppel mentions a measure of safety in systems by isolating them by "air" that is, an isolating gap in the network connections - in the case of the grid, between administrative computer systems and operating power systems. Then he destroys the efficacy of this isolation by saying some keeners might bring in their laptops and thumbajugs thus allowing a breach in the system. Well, my god in heaven, if this matter is so crucial then police the system and fire, lock up anyone who would try such a dumb thing allowing the possible entry of a catastrophic virus destroying the integrity of the system. Also, why not connect the various operating power systems by dedicated fibre optic lines isolating them from outside communications - and the Internet. Canada did that several years ago for vital communications links. Finally, if the consequences of attack through the internet are so disastrous, why not shut the goddam thing down, or at least rebuild it so that control can be exerted over the system by isolating segments. The system is no longer a plaything for university professors working on mutual projects. And we along quite well before the web was allowed to explode into the unmanageable nightmare that now threatens us because of its weaknesses! Oh, I know, the precious US constitution and the Fourth amendment! The flaws in that constitution have the structure of US governance have amply been displayed lately as no friend of the American people, with political parties at war with each other to the detriment of the country and persons of questionable intelligence, if not sanity, are allowed to be President.

At least in one set of jurisdictions (the free world) isolate and control all servers. The downside is too horrendous a cost to continue with this plaything.

Marg Allworth

Best wishes, Marg

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

Deeply worrying.

When I trained as a nurse all the equipment was NOT electrifyed i.e. by the end of our training we had taken hundreds of blood pressures ect,

Now, machines do the work - are they accurate - what happens when they fial?

Best wishes,

Marg.

jill johnston.

Thought provoking book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2024

Verified Purchase

What are you and your family going to do, if the electricity goes out for 1hour, 1day, 1week, 1month or 1year. Our system is archaic and very venerable to attack. This book is a good place to start from 👍🏻

Phil

Great Perspective

Reviewed in Canada on November 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Koppel sounds a warning bell here, methodically relating interviews about the seriousness of the cyber threat without going so far as being screechy. Well worth reading even if (or perhaps because) it is a bit unsettling.

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