Although we think of the internet as the most indispensable part of our interconnected society today, the fact is that the electrical grid is far more important. After all, the internet needs electricity. However, without electricity we would be back in the 19th century without lights, but only worse. The people in the 19th century knew how to live without electricity: we don’t.

The nation’s electrical power grid relies on the internet for its command and control. The good news is that this interconnectivity allows us to function with less infrastructure since it can be coordinated so well. The bad news is that the extreme amount of interconnectivity leaves the power grid increasingly vulnerable to attack by hackers.