Fort Bragg is plunged into surprise 12-hour blackout affecting thousands as world’s largest army base simulates ‘very likely’ cyber attacks
Power outage stretching across 163,000 acres hit the North Carolina barracks
Drill shut off the electricity and curbed the water supply on Wednesday night
Aimed to highlight the site’s shortfalls in the event of ‘very likely’ cyber attacks
By JACK ELSOM
DAILYMAIL.COM
26 April 2019
Fort Bragg army base was deliberately plunged into a blackout for more than 12 hours when military chiefs simulated a surprise cyber attack.
Tens of thousands of unwitting soldiers and civilians were shocked when a power outage stretching across 163,000 acres hit the North Carolina barracks.
The exercise at the garrison, which the Army claims to be the world’s largest military base, shut off the electricity and curbed the water supply on Wednesday night.
Fort Bragg’s drill comes amid growing fears of cyberwarfare from countries such as Russia which has recently carried out several acts of aggression towards the West during a period of heightened tension.
Writing on its Facebook page, the command post said that the exercise aimed to highlight the compound’s weaknesses which could be exploited by ‘very likely’ cyber attacks.
It said: ‘Fort Bragg has been conducting an exercise to identify shortcomings in our infrastructure, operations and security by cutting power throughout the installation.
‘Fort Bragg has to train for any possible threats to the installation in order to remain mission capable.
‘This exercise was not announced in order to replicate likely real-world reactions by everyone directly associated with the installation.
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