As you probably know, there are more than a few nasty people out there who’d love to bring down a nation’s information infrastructure. And in August of 2003, it felt like someone did just that.

Do you recall where you were when the northeast blackout occurred in 2003? Well, I was in the thick of it in Michigan. On a beautiful and hot August day, my carpooler and myself thought we’d sneak out of work a little early. Upon getting in the car, I recall not being able to get our favorite radio station. Oh well, that was an easy fix, pop in a CD.

As we proceeded near the highway, we noticed all the traffic lights were out. Strange, we thought, but didn’t think to much of it…until we couldn’t move any further. The highways were jammed. We noticed that gas stations were crowded, but that was because they ran out of ice on what was a very hot day. What we also found out was that one couldn’t get gas because of the lack of electricity. Luckily we filled up before going to work that morning.

So, what was normally about a 1.5 hour drive turned into five hours. Surprisingly, people were rather calm. As we sat there, it was eerie to wonder what was lurking on everyone’s minds since 9/11 wasn’t in the too-distant-past. Once home, we arrived to no electricity, thus no air conditioning, no water, and no TV. But I can tell you as one of the 5.4 million people in Michigan affected that day, it was truly an eye-opening experience to the realization of our dependence on technology.

It’s been reported that financial losses resulting from that blackout were about $6 billion. The official cause of that blackout was a software bug. Of course, there are those who believe this was the work of a hacker(s). I’m not sure, but just so that I can sleep a little better at night, I’m going with the official story. However, should the day come and our critical systems do get into dangerous hands, I’m sure that August 2003 might be child’s play compared to what we might really be up against.

Needless to say, technology touches almost every facet of our lives everyday. Therefore, we all have a vested interest in doing our part to keep the computer systems safe, at work and home. I’m not sure about you, but when my lights go out, I want to be the one flicking the switch.

Oh, and the moral of the story is – don’t leave work early. Oh, who am I kidding? Before you do, look into your crystal ball. Make sure there are no blackouts planned. They have a bad habit of rendering your “sneaking out” pointless.