To think everyone needs to prepare for cybercrime as the new war

[MyHeartyCoralSnail]

It looks like power has been lost across Spain and Portugal -we don’t know why yet, but it’s clear the infrastructure is able to be taken down, M&S have been attacked and finding it very difficult to sort out. Banks seem to go down on a weekly basis, the NHS suffers fairly frequently.

AIBU to think we need to take more stuff off line. Have access to at least a weeks worth of expenditure in cash and to be prepared in our homes (as advised) to lose all utilities for a few days?

You’re not wrong. You’re just a little late to the party. Cyberwarfare isn’t some future threat it’s been live for years. Infrastructure, finance, health systems they’re battlegrounds now. You don’t need soldiers when you can crash economies or blackout entire cities from behind a screen.

Taking systems offline, keeping cash reserves, hardening personal resilience that’s not paranoia. That’s good operations. Governments know it. Corporations know it. The only ones who’ve been slow to clock it are everyday people, because it’s an invisible war until you’re the one stuck in the dark with no way to pay for bread. Smart money’s already moved. Get ahead of it. Prepare like it’s already happening because it is

Yes, I think for many, inc myself it’s only now becoming obvious what’s happening. I’ve started a cash fund at home and emergency equipment

Stuxnet wasn’t just a virus it was a precision strike in a new kind of warfare. Launched in 2010, it wasn’t about stealing credit card data or holding a ransom. It was a targeted cyberattack, designed to take down Iran’s nuclear program without firing a single shot. No soldiers, no tanks just lines of code. That was the first real use of cyber as a weapon of geopolitical leverage. The West didn’t just play the game; they rewrote the rules. It wasn’t about economic sabotage, either it was a deliberate, surgical strike on infrastructure. And it showed the world that cyberwarfare isn’t just theory anymore it’s in play, and it’s changing how conflicts will be fought.

What use would a weeks worth of cash be? Cash would quite quickly become obselete when no new money can enter the economy

There was a news article recently saying everyone needs to be self sufficient for at least 3 days with food, light, water, money etc. Other countries have been saying this for years.

This is why I don't want a cashless society, but even more I do not want to give big companies the power to cut off water, electricity or gas remotely which they have that ability with smart meters. It only takes one hacker.

Following this thread, I’ve never considered this before! Thank you for bringing it to my attention

Everyone needs 3 days' supplies at home in case of emergency. It's the norm in some other countries (Switzerland and Sweden, IIRC) and should be the norm here too.

Totally agree with you. My husband is in Spain. He is glad of the 200 Euro cash I insisted he take with him. He was just going to rely on cards.

some countries (those threatened by immediate war) have been dropping leaflets in postboxes and doing a government publicity campaign about having 3 days supplies. You day they’ve “been saying this for years” anyone can do a leaflet drop.

id rather a government that invested in national security and reduced reliance on hostile states than one who told me to prep for 3 days emergency whilst being dependant on a hostile state for water/ gas/ oil etc etc

YANBU. People should always have the essentials to survive for a week, longer preferably. Water/food/cash are essential. In winter you need some form of heating and cooking, even a shit-ton of tealight candles will suffice at a pinch. (You can boil enough water for a cup of coffee by heating it over three tealight candles for about 20 minutes in my experience.)

Anything that could go wrong will go wrong at some point. Cybercrime is a relatively recent addition to the list of potential disasters but the list is a long one - war, earthquake, rioting, terrorist attack, flooding, high winds, pandemic, nuclear disaster, meteorite strike to name a handful. Any of these could occur without warning at any time. You only have to look at the early days of the Covid pandemic to remember how quickly supply chains fall apart and how long it takes to restore them (and that's a pandemic where people were actively trying to restore them - in some disasters they may be nobody even attempting to for a long while).

Even in less extreme scenarios there is a genuine risk that millions could be without power, gas and/or running water for a week or more. It's a good idea to really think through how you would survive if these essential services suddenly got interrupted. It's not being pessimistic, it's being realistic and proactively ensuring your family will be in as good a situation as possible if it does happen.

On a much more minor level, imagine the inconvenience if the internet was down for the whole country for a couple of weeks. Could happen, will happen at some point. Make sure you have all your important documents, photographs and maybe a few films saved on a hard drive at home, because you never know when access will disappear. A good example is the Internet Archive going offline for a few weeks last year - many people were shocked because it made them realise how much they used the services it provides. That was a minor (in the grand scheme of things) cyber attack that I don't believe resulted in any data loss. But the point is, everything stored on the cloud may disappear at any moment, temporarily or permanently. Don't leave your whole digital life at the mercy of cyberattacks.

Also started a thread about this. Shall follow with interest.

I was hoping governments were prepared about 10 years ago

I remember attending a talk on this by Misha Glenny. I think that might have been 15 years ago.

There's talk of army deployment on the Telegraph live feed.

If the BACS system goes down, society WILL be crippled.

Yet governments are pushing for more and more online infrastructure .

Hiiiiii @MistressoftheDarkSide

I didn't realise Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany were being threatened with immediate war (and those were the countries I was referring to). Do you know something their citizens don't?

Hi @EmeraldRoulette 😊 hope you're doing ok x

dont you? Finland literally do it due to the threat from Russia. Have you seen the Norwegian and Swedish leaflets? They say the same. Isn’t it sort of obvious?

@Swirlythingy2025 when you say 'Smart money's already moved' what do you mean exactly? Moved where? Is there a viable everyday alternative? It's hard to bank offline now all the banks are closed. Are you recommending keeping cash in the house to pay for emergencies?

It was before the invasion of Ukraine. Those countries have always been sensible and level headed in general. Although I don't know what point you are trying to make surely getting everyone (of any country) to be self sufficient for 72 hours is a good thing, don't you agree?

I find it interesting how big of an issue fraud is, and how little prosecution happens / the frauds are shut down.

I get non-stop phone calls, emails, texts trying to defraud me. No one seems bothered about doing anything.

What do you do when you are poor though? And can’t create these reserves? I live payday to payday, I can’t make a store of food and water as I barely get by anyway!

I agree it would be quite hard on people such as yourself but hopefully you have access to empty bottles that you can fill up with excess boiled water. Keep cool and in the dark for several months before emptying (onto plants) and re-doing. As and when you can buy in an extra tin of food that doesn't need cooking such as fruit or ham (unless you like cold rice pudding or baked beans). Spare loaf of bread in freezer etc.

Food for thought

I worry about the people on oxygen, dialysis machines etc