All businesses in any industry are susceptible to a cyberattack, including your utility providers—water, gas, electricity, etc. According to an article from USA Today, “about once every four days, part of the nation’s power grid— a system whose failure could leave millions in the dark — is struck by a cyber or physical attack.”
Recently, there has been an increasing number of utility cyberattacks, impacting everything from meat processing plants to gasoline pipelines. And from what we’ve seen, it only takes a few days to have devastating effects on you and your family, resulting in something that is extremely costly, dangerous, and deadly.
As we see utility cyberattacks increase, just know, that with foresight and planning you can reduce these risks significantly if one strikes your utility provider.
What is a Utility Cyberattack?
A cyberattack is defined as an attempt by one or more individuals to access a computer network, and cause damage to it in one way or another. And like any other service that leverages a computer network, these attacks can be targeted toward your utilities. Utility cyberattacks give the hackers unauthorized access to a device or network with the intention of disrupting, stealing information, or compromising data. Thus, this intentional intrusion can often be classified as criminal behavior.
Preparing Accordingly for a Utility Cyberattack
A cyberattack is one of the scariest things that could happen to any nation, state, or city. So, it’s important for every household to understand the implications and risks associated with such a cyberattack on their community’s utility providers. However, there are some crucial emergency preparedness items you can prepare your household with for such an event.
Prepare today for peace of mind tomorrow.
Get occasional tips about keeping your family and home safe — delivered to your inbox.
Lighting
We take our ability and access to lighting for granted, so oftentimes, we overlook having emergency lighting in case of a power outage. Consider keeping a flashlight in multiple places around the home such as the car, bedrooms, bathrooms, entryway, and one near your electrical panel. While most cell phones have a built-in flashlight, you might also want to consider keeping a flashlight on your key ring, in your pocket and/or purse, and one at work.
In addition to flashlights, keep a secondary form of lighting in your homes, such as lanterns or emergency candles in rooms that you gather in such as the kitchen or living room. For example, a few lighting products we love and recommend are the UCO Candle Lantern and the Streamlight Pro Tac HL-X. Both can be purchased through the Batten Marketplace.
Batteries
Just like Christmas morning, a best practice is to always have a good abundance and variety of batteries in your household to power flashlights, portable radios, smoke detectors, fire alarms, and backup generators. Keep an inventory of which items require batteries and which type to make sure you always have that kind on hand in case you need them.
Water
If you suspect power might go out, you will want to have lots of water on hand. Immediately fill your bathtubs and your sinks and flush your toilets. However, this alone isn’t enough to have an adequate household water supply in the case of an emergency.
Increase your household water supply with the AquaPod Kit 2.0 – a must-have emergency water storage solution that provides you with up to 65 gallons of clean, potable water in the event of a disaster or emergency. This kit comes with a high-quality, BPA-free liner that fits inside a standard bathtub and a pump to easily extract water. It’s easy to assemble and stores flat when not in use, making it convenient for storage in small spaces. Don’t risk running out of clean water during an emergency – be prepared with the AquaPod Kit 2.0.
Additionally, another item to have on hand is potable aqua chlorine dioxide water purification tablets. These water treatment tablets take four hours to purify one quart of water for emergency water purification. They only take a small amount of space and have a big impact.
And of course, it’s always a good idea to keep a case or two of bottled water on hand.
Check out the Batten Marketplace for water storage supplies for purchase, such as barrels, storage kits, purification tablets, and more.
Back-up Power
Having an emergency generator will allow you to keep the necessary appliances and medical equipment running in your home.
We strongly recommend the Generac GP8000E Portable Generator. You can run this generator overnight, as it’s an electric start generator and runs quieter than others on the market. In other words, with a press of a button, the engine will kick into action. Purchase this generator along with other options on the Batten Marketplace.
Food
The time to stockpile an emergency supply of food is right now. A utility cyberattack might make it hard to access food, so it’s crucial to have at least three days of food for everyone in the family – including pets. A 30-day stockpile is better, especially if you can stock a bit more of the food you are eating already.
In addition, if you have a second fridge or freezer, or additional pantry space, consider building that stockpile of food. If you are looking to build your emergency food stash from scratch, a great option is the Nutrient Survival: 72 Hour Food Kit and the 30-Day Food Kit.
Heating and Cooling
Power outages never seem to happen on a beautiful 70-degree day; they happen in extreme cold or extreme heat, both of which can be fatal.
Consider purchasing both a space heater and a portable air conditioner to help regulate your home temperature. However, you need a generator to operate both of these appliances. Check out our recommendations above for a solid generator that can power any appliance in your home.
As cyber-attacks are becoming more and more common, you need to protect your household and keep your family safe. Although we can’t prevent cyberattacks, we can prepare for them. Don’t get caught off guard in case a cyberattack strikes your community’s electricity grid and power supply, so stock up on emergency supplies today.
Not sure where to begin? Shop the Batten Marketplace for disaster preparedness products based on your needs.
Here are all the power grid emergency preparedness products mentioned in this article, sorted by price:
