Cybersecurity Isn’t Only a Silicon Valley Problem — It’s an Everybody Problem. Here’s What We Need to Do to Stay Out of the 19th Century

Why Survival of a Digital Armageddon Demands Engagement, Not Retreat

What if you are at home with your family watching TV and your room goes dark? No TV, no smartphone, no refrigerator. Your phone screen says 5% battery, but you have no WiFi, no cell signal. Outside, no lights anywhere.

You fire up your generator if you have one. Then the horrible truth sinks in. There is no news. No internet. You are isolated.

Hours pass. You learn that every gas station is crippled. No pumps work. Your town has been plunged into a world not seen since the 1800s. Your car will run dry soon. Your world shrinks to the distance you can walk.

Estonia, a small country in northern Europe, survived such an attack in 2007 from its neighbor, Russia. Russia targeted banks, government services, media outlets, and critical infrastructure. The world’s smallest digital society faced a choice. Retreat from their aggressive digitization strategy? Rebuild analog backups and create air-gapped systems? Or do something that seemed, at the time, almost suicidal: go even more digital.