Recent physical and cyber incidents have caused local or regional disruptions, highlighting the importance of recovery planning. On the other hand, these incidents have also shown the Internet as a whole to be flexible and resilient. Even in severe circumstances, the Internet suffered no catastrophic failures. Nevertheless, it is possible that a complex attack or set of attacks could cause the Internet to fail. It is also possible that a series of attacks against the Internet could undermine users' trust and thereby reduce the Internet's utility.

In the context of the passage, which of the following could best be substituted for utility in the last sentence without changing the author's meaning?