# How concerned are you about a cyber-attack, and what safeguards can you take against one? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508 "2022-03-22T14:47:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508/21 "2022-03-23T18:05:13Z")
The danger of a Russian cyber attack is not to your personal computer, but to the larger utilities like the power grid, water systems, banking, the things that can really disrupt every day life for US citizens. So many things are now controlled by computer systems rather than actual on site operators that it is a very real danger. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508/22 "2022-03-24T20:00:40Z")
Beau of the Fifth Column has been good at giving information about the war, and I trust his video on the subject: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7zsTGA0EV3g/maxresdefault.jpg "Let's talk about preparing for a possibility....") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zsTGA0EV3g) This isn’t a hot war, so the targets are lower tier. Someone in the comments summarized his recommendations as follows: 1. Keep a little cash on you 2. Get gas. Top off your tanks 3. Get needed prescriptions filled 4. Print out any essential docs I’d add “don’t panic if you lose access to information for a bit.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508/23 "2022-03-24T21:43:05Z")
I am also worried about a “Carrington event” [Carrington Event - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event) which could take down the whole electrical system and internet for weeks or more. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508/24 "2022-03-31T02:27:12Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I am also worried about a “Carrington event” [Carrington Event - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event) which could take down the whole electrical system and internet for weeks or more. Beau has covered that one, too. It could do all that, but we have early warning satellites and a playbook on how to handle it. Sure, the amount of warning may not be high, but what we have to do to mitigate the issue is fairly simple: we shut everything off. And it would most likely only last four days. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-6JoX8zVszY/maxresdefault.jpg "Let's talk about the Carrington Event....") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6JoX8zVszY) Of course, we had a playbook on how to handle pandemics, and we didn’t follow that. And a lot of people refused to do their part then, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-a-cyber-attack-and-what-safeguards-can-you-take-against-one/961508.md?page=1)