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What if the Internet crashed for one day … or longer?

During a one-day outage we would see dramatic slowdown – possibly a total breakdown – of our ability to communicate with one another.

Many of us will be trapped in our homes without the ability to operate our electronic devices and so many other conveniences we take for granted.

What if? We’d be virtually helpless.

If the cyber attack is aimed at power supplies, many of us won’t be able to open our garage doors. Smart phones will be dead, iPads useless. Phone lines will be down. No media coverage. Accurate information about what has happened – and why — will be extremely limited at this point.

If people did manage toget out of their homes and into their cars,traffic control systems will be dark. First responders will start to mobilize, with law enforcement becoming increasingly visible as the day progresses.

Businesses of all kinds –banks, supermarkets, gas stations, the stock market — with cease. Everything will be “cash only” — but ATMs will be inoperable. Supply chains of all sorts will be disrupted. Most companies wouldn’t be able to remain open.

In a word, chaos.

Bottom line: In a society where disenfranchised members begin betting against the regime, cyber strikes to disrupt the political system and infrastructure are a powerful 1-2 punch to create widespread panic and civil unrest.

The “fallout” from one day will last for months, likely years. Cracks in our everyday lives – indeed, our very way of life — will be severely threatened.

Armageddon? Maybe.

Those are my thoughts. I welcome yours.

By Darin Andersen