Inside the Pentagon's Secretive Preparations for a 'Cyber 9/11' by Andrew Tilghman, Military Times
The massive coordinated cyber attack began with rolling blackouts throughout the electrical grid stretching across the Midwest, leaving up to 10 million Americans' homes without power and businesses unable to process credit and debit card purchases.
Then came the inexplicable malfunction at a large oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, which spewed an oil-slick five-miles wide along the gulf coast shoreline. The governors of Texas and Louisiana declared states of emergency. In southern California, the attack shut down several major ports by disabling hydraulic systems. Dozens of cargo ships were stranded off Los Angeles, unable to offload their stacks of truck-sized containers.
Attacks on the Defense Department's networks threatened the systems that monitor North American airspace and the radars on which the U.S. military relies.
Total mayhem.
This fictitious scenario was laid out for nearly 1,000 military, government and private sector personnel here at this year’s Cyber Guard exercise, the nation’s largest test of its network defenses. Conducted over nine days in June, the event offered a disturbing look at the type of catastrophe that could unfold during what the government's top officials call “cyber 9/11.”
“For us, it’s not a question of if it will happen but when,” said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Kevin Lunday, U.S. Cyber Command’s director of training. “The more relevant question is: When it does [happen], will we as a Department of Defense, will we as a nation and with our allies, be ready for it?” …