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Comment by billfor | Hacker News Reader

Can you imagine what would happen if we had another carrington effect (which we will eventually) and were suddenly faced with having to build thousands of transformers....

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Or on a smaller scale, hybrid and open warfare, domestic terrorism [1] or just rednecks shooting at power lines [2] and transformers [3] already cause a lot of damage to power infrastructure.

An AR-15 or Kalashnikov is enough to cause serious damage, a hit squad or two can take out unprotected infrastructure on a wide scale in a very short time - and most substations consist of barely more than a fence and barbed wire to deter wildlife from entering, not a concrete wall that would thwart attackers.

[1] https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/01/military_styl...

[2] https://newtoncountytimes.com/stories/shooting-power-and-fib...

[3] https://www.sasktoday.ca/southeast/local-news/carlyle-rcmp-s...

One would expect the electrocution risk would be enough to deter the human attackers.

A sniper team with an anti-material rifle could wreak havoc very effectively and never even be noticed while doing so.

That's the thing with high powered guns, you don't need to get near enough to be electrocuted. Snipers are even better but take more skilled attackers and are harder to explain away in a random traffic spot.

> carrington effect

Event*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event

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