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Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Kristof: To hackers, we’re Bambi in the woods

FILE--Bambi the fawn is shown with Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk in this scene from the 1942 classic animated Disney film, Bambi. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, May 20, 1996, that the daughter of Felix Salten, the Austrian author of the 1923 children's tale ``Bambi, A Life in the Woods,'' owned Salten's U.S. copyright and renewed it before it expired in 1954. The ruling allows a book company that now owns the rights to sue the Walt Disney Co. (AP Photo/Walt Disney Co.)
FILE--Bambi the fawn is shown with Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk in this scene from the 1942 classic animated Disney film, Bambi. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, May 20, 1996, that the daughter of Felix Salten, the Austrian author of the 1923 children's tale ``Bambi, A Life in the Woods,'' owned Salten's U.S. copyright and renewed it before it expired in 1954. The ruling allows a book company that now owns the rights to sue the Walt Disney Co. (AP Photo/Walt Disney Co.) FILE--Bambi the fawn is shown with Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk in this scene from the 1942 classic animated Disney film, Bambi. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, May 20, 1996, that the daughter of Felix Salten, the Austrian author of the 1923 children's tale ``Bambi, A Life in the Woods,'' owned Salten's U.S. copyright and renewed it before it expired in 1954. The ruling allows a book company that now owns the rights to sue the Walt Disney Co. (AP Photo/Walt Disney Co.)

If you’re worried about terrorism, here’s a bigger threat to lose sleep over: an all-out cyberattack:

The electricity goes out at the office. Cellphone networks and the internet have also gone black, along with subways and trains.

The roads are jammed because traffic lights aren’t working. Credit cards are now just worthless bits of plastic, and ATMs are nothing but hunks of metal. Gas stations can’t pump gas.

Banks have lost records of depositors’ accounts. Dam floodgates mysteriously open. Water and sewage treatment plants stop working.

People can’t reach loved ones. Phone systems are down, so 911 is useless. Looters roam the streets. Food and water soon run out in the cities.