Um, one USB port is still one USB port. And you don't need wires to connect devices and back them up these days, even in the absence of the internet or cell towers.

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A USB port is connected to a controller card ... If some one detonated a nuke in the ionosphere, it would *FRY* everything in an area roughly the landmass of the US.

You would have no internet.

You would have no processors.

You would have no controller cards.

You would have no computers at all.

You would also have no way to fix it.

Due to the human race being so dependent on computing in our every day life, most of us would die from starvation or dehydration.

O_o

What the....

I think others have said it before, but you are aware that a) the US is not the world (therefore most services would be back online in days or weeks, with some outside help), b) a single detonation would hardly kill EVERY device (1. AFAIK, a device completly shut down is much harder to kill that way, 2. not all devices are sensible enough, and in the periphery of the blast the energy released might not be enough, 3. and that is before we come to military class fortified devices that are almost impossible to kill with an EMP)....

And then there is the fact that humans survived just fine without electronic devices for hundred thousands of years. Would it take some days to dust off your old gas oven, to get your old non-smart car running again, or *gasp* start using hand tools? Yes of course. Would it be inconvinient? For most of us, yes. Would a food shortage or other shortages happen? You bet.

But even if that EMP strike would hit the whole world simultaniously, killing off ALL modern electronics.... humanity would survive, and it would be a mere bump on the road. Some thousand or so would die instantly (planes crashing because of system failures, medical equipment going dark, and so on...) ... a lot of dangerous situation had to be dealt with (shutting down and containing all the nuclear plants until the control systems could be brought back up, be replaced with simpler devices, or the whole plant could be entombed into his own concrete sarcophagus like what the russians did in tschernobyl)...

Not really on a scale that would even be rembered in 1000 years....

In the end, we would be left in a "stone age" with gasoline engines, electricity and all the knowledge to rebuild everything in a short manner because... you know... most stuff is still written down somewhere, wikipedia is just a silly copy of the real sources, not the other way round.

If you want to bomb humanity back to the stone ages, try meteor strikes, a super caldera eruption, multiple big earthquakes, the earth changing its orbit around the sun, the moon leaving its orbit in either direction, or simply global warming.

We could continue with earth being hit by a gamma-ray burst, our galaxy colliding with another galaxy or a passing by black hole, but earth being wiped out would hardly count as "stone age" anymore, would it? :)

There is some type of facility, a tower of some sort, that if that was either hacked or damaged, it would cause the whole internet to go down. I heard of it on a report. Let me see if I can find it.

It was in a report? An actual report? Must be true then. They don't let just anybody write those.

1: the US is not the world (therefore most services would be back online in days or weeks, with some outside help

2: And then there is the fact that humans survived just fine without electronic devices for hundred thousands of years. Would it take some days to dust off your old gas oven, to get your old non-smart car running again, or *gasp* start using hand tools?

3: Some thousand or so would die instantly (planes crashing because of system failures, medical equipment going dark, and so on...) ...

4: nuclear control systems could be brought back up, be replaced with simpler devices

5: most stuff is still written down somewhere, wikipedia is just a silly copy of the real sources, not the other way round.

.

1: There are thousands of major router and switch stations in the US, it would take years for an outside government to replace just the critical components. Of course you would have to deal with the fact there would be no electricity. It would take roughly 8 months per power plant to replace all the computer and instrumentation, and probably take years to repair the entire electrical grid.

You also need to take into consideration natural gas, oil, and coal deliveries would be non existent.

2: Not everyone has natural gas. Even if you do, the entire system is networked with fail closed valves. Each pump station would take 3 - 6 weeks to replace all the instrumentation, and you would have no electricity.

How many people you know own a car manufactured before 1985 ? Even if everyone did, gas stations, semi trucks, oil refineries, oil tankers, and oil wells are all computerized and require electricity.

How many people you know who own non power tools ?

3: If all deliveries would stop in the US, we would only have enough stock on store shelves to last 3 - 5 days. The human body can last 30 - 45 days with no food. Most people in the US would have no access to a farm, and no way to grow their own food in 2 months. Roughly 90% - 95% of the US population would be dead with in 3 months. ( this takes into account very few would have access to clean drinking water ).

4: I worked on the instrumentation in nuclear facilities. There is no way in #### that could be done without ripping *everything* apart and starting from scratch. That would take 5 - 6 years per plant minumum.

5: Show me were normal people could find this information within 10 miles of were they live. 10 miles = about 2.5 hours walking distance. Libraries don't keep that many useful books now-a-days.

Good post Buster.
Okay, so the likelihood of the Internet going down might be highly unlikely....

I am the type however to make a way out of no way, and I am sure there are people with the hacker mentality that could do much better.

So, forget taking down "the Internet" and target the providers like AT&T, Comcast, etc. But you only attack major cities or states, NY, Atlanta, CA, etc.

Indirectly crippling the entire Internet? Direct force is hardly the strategy in this day and age.

That is just one possible case. I'd not like to see it happen, but if I can do something about it, I would like to know how or what.

I don't have a car. How would I look riding a horse or camel to work. Wait, I could even walk a day's journey. Imagine insane inflation of gas prices even.

A USB port is connected to a controller card ... If some one detonated a nuke in the ionosphere, it would *FRY* everything in an area roughly the landmass of the US.

Of course. And at that point it doesn't matter one single bit whether you have one USB port or many (which is what the post I was replying to presented as a "problem").

If all deliveries would stop in the US, we would only have enough stock on store shelves to last 3 - 5 days.

No, it'll be 15-30 minutes before the first panicking hoarding nutters will kill someone over a can of beans.

There are thousands of major router and switch stations in the US, it would take years for an outside government to replace just the critical components. Of course you would have to deal with the fact there would be no electricity.

Again, my point remains: Who cares? If you face such a massive catastrophe that is able to take out all routers, do you really think replacing the flipping routers and switches is your first priority, or even one of the top-25 priorities? Get real.

Besides, if this happened e.g. because of a nuclear strike, then an outside government would hardly have much of a motive restoring the most aggressive, hostile nation's network so their military infrastructure works flawlessly again and they'll continue fighting.

They'd rather let you starve and re-settle the country 6-8 months later. If it happened because of a massive natural catastrophe, they'd first care about their own stuff and make sure their own people survive. And then it depends what you're willing to pay.

Natural gas

Same thing. No outside government would have an interest in that. And why would they? Unless you pay, they'd rather let you freeze to death during winter and send pioneers in spring to claim the land.

Who owns a car manufactured before 1985

Woah, you might actually have to walk. Dude... you're going to die. You don't own a bicycle?

Who owns non-power tools

A lot of people. I do, for example.

Show me were normal people could find this information within 10 miles of were they live.

80-85% of what I need to survive (including growing food and keeping my home in an inhabitable state), I'll find readily available inside my head.

Books (you know, those things made of paper) can be found in my library. Backup (more books) at my parent's house 5.5km from here. Two public libraries within 5km. University library 11km from here.

I'm not saying that life wouldn't get somewhat less comfortable, but really... no electricity and no internet isn't the end of all times. In fact, not having all those buggers run into you all the time because they only watch their cellphone might be a big relief.

The 3-2-1 rule still applies. At least 3 copies, at least 2 media, at least 1 off site.

Not sure I understand the "at least 2 media" part. What counts as "media"? DVDs? External harddrives not actively plugged in except right when backing up? In your own personal/family data, what do you do?

Does your "actively in use" count as a "copy", or are you saying "3 copies not including the original"?

A few moments on Google shows all kinds of documentation describing the reasons behind it, and the risks of missing any piece of it.

This US-CERT document (pdf) goes into a bit of depth on the pros/cons of each type, and why you need multiple.

In corporate environments a D2D2T (Disk to Disk to Tape) system is fairly common, searching for D2D2T systems finds all kinds of corporate backup systems.

Useful link frob. I am looking at the western digital MyCloud for remote cloud backup. The cloud isn't a bad idea, as long as it is mine. Digital tape sounds perfect (never hear of it). That is a good solution to storing digital information in a physical way. I was thinking something along the lines of a QR code, but I couldn't even store a one page document on it without it looking like a solid square.

.1: There are thousands of major router and switch stations in the US, it would take years for an outside government to replace just the critical components. Of course you would have to deal with the fact there would be no electricity. It would take roughly 8 months per power plant to replace all the computer and instrumentation, and probably take years to repair the entire electrical grid.

You also need to take into consideration natural gas, oil, and coal deliveries would be non existent.

2: Not everyone has natural gas. Even if you do, the entire system is networked with fail closed valves. Each pump station would take 3 - 6 weeks to replace all the instrumentation, and you would have no electricity.

How many people you know own a car manufactured before 1985 ? Even if everyone did, gas stations, semi trucks, oil refineries, oil tankers, and oil wells are all computerized and require electricity.

How many people you know who own non power tools ?

3: If all deliveries would stop in the US, we would only have enough stock on store shelves to last 3 - 5 days. The human body can last 30 - 45 days with no food. Most people in the US would have no access to a farm, and no way to grow their own food in 2 months. Roughly 90% - 95% of the US population would be dead with in 3 months. ( this takes into account very few would have access to clean drinking water ).

4: I worked on the instrumentation in nuclear facilities. There is no way in #### that could be done without ripping *everything* apart and starting from scratch. That would take 5 - 6 years per plant minumum.

5: Show me were normal people could find this information within 10 miles of were they live. 10 miles = about 2.5 hours walking distance. Libraries don't keep that many useful books now-a-days.

1. Well, IDK really what the current state is, but the only thing that still keeps most of the authority in the US is because the US does not want to share their power over the internet. You can bet Russia, China and Europe will be able to quickly build up their alternative system, it might already be in place. Will it be working like the current net instantly? No, most likely not. Will some countries use that time to seclude their part of the internet even more? You bet. Will the world still be connected somehow? Of course.

There might be an outage of days, there will be a lot of money that needs to quickly be invested... but to be honest, the whole world kind of just waits for the US internet backbone to go down and the US government to aknowldge they cannot uphold the service any longer... for once, europe, russia and china would do a happy dance together.

2. Creating a transcontinental powergrid might take time... still, the US has neightbours in the south that might still be able to deliver SOME electricity until the US is able to get their grid back online. Then there is Alaska, which might not be affected, as well as the north of Kanada... no idea if there are any nuclear plants up there, but that might also help.

I do understand that normally, getting all that stuff back online might take months. But that is under normal conditions where governments can slack off as governments normally do... "lets have another debate on this"... "us republicans say no just to make sure the president does not get his way"... "that costs too much, lets go find a subcontractor in India that does the work for a third of the price"....

You can bet none of that shit will take place once every last politician in washington realized how much is at stake here.... money wouldn't matter anymore, of course not much could be payed as transactions wouldn't work anymore.... the US Army grunts and their Assault rifles would still work and make sure everyone works at max efficiency to resolve the crisis.

What would take months to resolve under normal conditions can be done in mere days, if money is of no concern and a gun can be pointed on your head if needed.

I don't think every newer car is completly out of order. There might be some rewiring needed to get the car to startup again, and in some cases the whole thing would rely so much on electronic systems that even the best mechanic might give up. Still, there must be tons of replacement systems lying around in warehouses, and shut down systems are NOT affected by an EMP AFAIK... at least not to the same extend as live systems.

Then there are bicycles, rikshas, horses.... all kind of makeshift ways to transport goods and people that certainly do not rely on electronics. Are they as widespread in the US as cars and trucks? Most probably not... but on the other hand they are cheap and quite fast to produce and kitbash, and would certainly come to the rescue if cars would really be irreparable.

3. Yes... you still had the crop on the fields, and more than enough office workes currently not able to work their normal job to harvest it with manual tools if needed. You could still get food from the rest of the world, just because the US ships are lying useless in their ports doesn't mean ships from europe, russia or china couldn't reach US ports.... not to mention that the south american countries and north of canada and alska might still have some trucks they could loan. And food to deliver....

There would be food shortages, of course.... but nothing worse than what happended during the world wars, not even close. People had to starve there, at least in europe and russia.... but your numbers are COMPLETLY overexaggerated!

4. Well, usually I am sure you are right. And I don't want to think about what sacrifices in human health and lives might be necessary to speed up the process (the liquidators in tschernobyl might not be that related, they had to clean up an already blown up facility, and prevent one from blowing up, still... it is a fine example of human sacrifice, as sad as that particular instance was because the incident was mostly provoked by sheer incompetence in the ranks of the officials in charge).

Still, as long as the US government follows a better contigency plan than the japenese government in fukushima, the worst might not be happening in most cases. As far as I know, most nuclear plants have (or should have) many failsafes to prevent the worst from happening in such cases. So I guess, just like in other countries, it is just 1-2 nuclear plants that somehow slacked on some security upgrades and where not shut down because of that in the meantime that might really blow up....

Making things worse? Yes. But its not an atomic bomb, it takes some time for a nuclear plant to blow up, so human casualities would most probably be limited.

5. Find your next Amazon warehouse, and go raid it. Pretty much anything can be ordered from Amazon, those books are not produced on order. If you know where to look for it, you will find the book in question. Just because I rely on Wikipedia being there for when I need to look something up doesn't mean I suddenly lost any common sense on where I could find said book.

Somehow this reminds me of the cheesy Pseudo-documentaries on discovery channel and similar cheesy outlets....

- "the next big meteor strike is overdue statistically, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

- "there is a big caldera building up under yosemite national park, it is overdue to erupt statistically, THE END TIMES ARE NEAR!"

Because panic and a misinformed public are totally what we need IF these events do happen. Totally helpful.

Next thing they will come up with "a lot of people slip in their showers and die, AVOID SHOWERS LIKE THE PLAGUE! BETTER TO SMELL LIKE A SKUNK THAN DIE LIKE THAT!"...

Who owns a car manufactured before 1985

Woah, you might actually have to walk. Dude... you're going to die. You don't own a bicycle?

It's the US we are talking about... not China. There might be "one million bicycles in bejing", but I bet a lot of US citizens would starve to death trying to get their pick-up running instead of walking 4 miles to walmart.

Digital tape sounds perfect (never hear of it).

Tape is relatively ancient in the computing world.

It has been the go-to format since the 1950's. It used to be common for mainframes to have big tape reels mounted on giant tape readers. Then they moved to cassettes and cartridges. From old to new, courtesy of Wikipedia:

It may be slow, but it is very high capacity, degrades slowly under controlled conditions, and works great for backup. It's also quite cheap, current cost is around $15 per TB.