Preparation Can Pay Off…
The 9/11 Commission Report stated that one reason for the security failures that occurred on that day was due to the transition period that often occurs between changing presidential administrations. With the recent events that word of caution still applies to the current administration as it will for future presidential administrations. There has been a major changeover in various departments such as cybersecurity on a federal level. With such a drastic changeover coordination on such a level can be critical and may take some time to adjust. This can be a period where we may be unprepared for a major event such as a large nationwide internet outage. As we have seen with various airline disruptions involving computer network outages even for a few hours to be a great inconvenience to many.
The potential for a major network outage is a fact of life we have to contend with today. It can be something as simple as an update gone awry to the potential dreadful cyber Pearl Harbor. Whatever the case may be if the banking/payment systems are effected people could find themselves dead in the water if they don’t have any physical cash. Yes, that uncool paper money old people still use in stores. It may be wise to store some cash in your home in case of such an event. As some people in Estonia found out in 2007 after a major cyber attack they could not do electronic transfers for awhile and if they didn’t have cash they were just out of luck. Such an attack you may not be able to use the ATM, debit or credit cards. Oh, and if you think you can just go to the bank and withdraw cash by asking a teller… well be prepared to wait in line since everyone else will be thinking the same thing. We are taught as kids in school to know where your fire exits are. The reason for that is because if there is a real emergency in any building people have a tendency to try and go out the same door that they came in. Take note of the fire exits beforehand and you have a better chance of getting out of the building safely. The same applies here, be prepared.
TL:DR
- Be sure to store some cash at home in case of a major internet outage
- ATM, debit or credit cards may not work
- Look up Estonia cyber attack 2007