Where were you when the CrowdStrike bits and bytes blunder recently hit? I got lucky. I was vacationing when things went awry. There was a nice big lake in front of me with a sailboat moored just offshore. Fortunately, I needed nothing whatsoever in the way of cyberness to row out to the boat, raise a sail or two, and let the wind provide all the search engine energy I required.

Others who were part of my vacationing group, alas, didn’t fare so well. More than one had a flight canceled or rescheduled. I’m sure many reading this could share stories of gloom and doom as well. Perhaps you were waiting until the last “due by” date to pay a bill and when you went online to do so, there was a message that basically said, “Tough darts, farmer” before you were assessed a late fee. Delta Air Lines got hit so hard there are probably families beginning their second or third week of captivity at an airport.

Since, as I mentioned, the cyber conniptions didn’t really affect me, I can only surmise that communication between those affected and those at fault was hardly adequate. I actually got a small taste of how that felt on my flight home earlier this week. The first leg of my journey was fine. We passengers were told our initial flight might be a bit delayed, but that was okay because the connecting flights were also being pushed back.

That was true. Too true. We took-off on time and got to our first stop early. I strolled over to my next gate only to find out that my homebound flight was delayed. But only by an hour. Not such a big deal. But, and here’s the rub, during the next four hours, the flight was delayed four more times, and we had to change gate locations every time.

I did find a group of Customer Service (is that an oxymoron?) representatives sitting behind a bank of computers. Of the six terminals available, only two were actually being used to supposedly help customers. When I finally got to the front of the line, I asked what might be the issue with our plane. “Maintenance” was the catchall answer. To me, that could have meant anything from “we’re reattaching the left wing” to “the ice bin is empty.” I was supposed to arrive home at 7:10 PM. It was closer to 11:45. And did anyone at this national airline say, “May we buy you a Chick-fil-A sandwich for your trouble?” They most assuredly did not.

I’m sure everyone has a similar story to tell, whether it’s dealing with an airline or any communications issue with a large company. Upon my return, I got a text from my Internet provider telling me there was an outage in my area. They included a link that would give me updates on progress. How nice. A link to a site on the Internet which I COULD NOT ACCESS due to the outage. But I certainly didn’t have it nearly as badly as those whose flights were canceled, or whose back accounts were frozen, or the car travelers trying to fill up their gas tanks only to find out the pumps didn’t work.

Did anybody check to see if China or Russia or some other enemy of the State also experienced troubles? It’s been a while since we’ve heard a peep out of Xi Jinping or Vlad “the Mad” Putin. No doubt those two enjoyed a chuckle as they watched the U.S. flounder in cyberspace.

All of the cyber-related incidents that occurred put me in mind of a book I read several years ago called One Second After. I won’t give too much away. But it starts with a cyber-attack. An Electro Magnetic Pulse. Literally one second later, no one’s phone works. No one’s car runs. TVs and radios won’t turn on. All household appliances cease functioning. Food in refrigerators begins to rot. (Smart people immediately eat all the chocolate ice cream in the freezer.) No one can get in touch with their neighbor, let alone the outside world.

As you might guess, chaos ensues, and it becomes a dog-eat-dog world. Not one person cares about who’s running for President. There are no talking heads to dissect the problem. However, despite all the uproar, there is a comic element to the story. One character has a 1959 Ford Edsel he’s kept in his garage. Because there are zero computer chips on board that car, it’s the only one that can get from Point A to Point B.

Was last week’s cyber mess a precursor of things to come? Who knows? But I’m guessing Xi and Vlad have a copy of One Second After in their libraries.

©MMXXIV. William J. Lewis, III – Freelance Writer