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Flickering lights will never be the same again

By September 10, 2013January 30th, 2019No Comments

Last night’s BlackOut (a drama documentary exploring the effects of a devastating cyber-attack on Britain’s national electricity grid) had my hair practically standing on end. Gripping doesn’t even begin to cut it – I’d say it was electric, if you’ll excuse the pun.

I’m sure there’s been many discussions this morning around water coolers picking apart the two themes that ran through the drama – people coming together to help each other in blitz-esque style, while others quite literally used the opportunity as an excuse to behave like animals. As an aside, I’d like to think that the morals I live by, and aim to instil in the next generation I’m nurturing, would mean we’ll fall in the former category but, as the final scenes showed, anyone suffering extreme stress can turn feral.

However, working in the security sector, whether the actuality could be a reality is what I found the most disturbing/exhilarating. The fact is, a cyber attack against the national grid could very easily be a reality. The reason it isn’t is the many security professionals tirelessly striving behind the scenes to prevent them being successful – especially on the scale of the devastation imagined in last night’s programme.

Many will debate whether an attack on the scale depicted is even possible but that’s neither here nor there. The fact that the debate exists means, in my opinion, BlackOut should be applauded.

 

blackout

Copyright Channel 4

 

– Dulcie