It is the only catastrophe on this list you can't see, can't hear, and increasingly can't avoid.
When code becomes a physical threat
For years a cyberattack meant stolen data and a ransom payment. That is changing. Ransomware has shut down hospitals and forced ambulances to divert; attacks on pipelines, power grids, and water treatment plants show how a keyboard can now cause real-world harm.
The projected cost — over ten trillion dollars a year — would rank cybercrime as the world's third-largest economy if it were a country.
“There are two kinds of organizations: those that have been breached, and those that don't know it yet.”
Your household is a target too
You don't have to be a corporation to be hit. Phishing, account takeovers, and ransomware reach individuals through the same email and devices they use every day.
The defenses are boring and effective: unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, and backups. A single reused password is the digital equivalent of one key for your house, car, and bank.
Grid & infrastructure
The Northwest's power, water, and port systems depend on networked control systems like everywhere else, and the region's prominence in technology makes it a target-rich environment for attackers.
For households, a long-duration utility outage is the realistic crossover risk — the same two-week readiness you would stage for a quake also covers a grid disrupted by an attack.
The five-minute hardening
Most personal cyber risk disappears with a few habits: a password manager, app- or hardware-based two-factor authentication, automatic backups of irreplaceable files, and a healthy suspicion of urgent messages.
None of it is glamorous; all of it works — and most of it can be set up in an afternoon.