Scientists Think the Next Big Solar Storm Could Create an ‘Internet Apocalypse’

OTI senior counsel and senior policy technologist Ross Schulman is quoted in a Digital Trends article about the possibility that a solar storm could create an "internet apocalypse," emphasizing the importance of bolstering our internet infrastructure against catastrophes.

The bigger cause for concern, says Ross Schulman, a senior technologist at the New America’s Open Technology Institute, is the “edges of the network.” This includes, for instance, the internet connections that we and smaller businesses rely on. If enough routes are damaged, the remaining bandwidth may be restricted to essential services like health care, leaving residential customers in the dark and without digital communications for weeks. Plus, satellite communication and tools like GPS systems will go offline, taking away with them a critical backup in disaster situations.

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There’s also a real chance that electric grids could go out for weeks, and therefore all our internet infrastructure simply wouldn’t have any power. In such a scenario, Schulman says, “alternative solutions such as wireless meshes like Commotion or Google’s Loon could rise as a flexible alternative.”

Experts fear a solar superstorm is just one of the many natural catastrophes that threaten the internet and the economies dependent upon it. As climate change escalates, Earth is expected to witness a rise in disasters, and preparing for them must be the top priority — a conversation that has yet to enter the mainstream conversation.

“We’ve already seen localized examples of this kind of trouble during Hurricane Sandy in New York, in which many data centers were taken offline, cell phones were out of service, and internet traffic was disrupted,” Schulman added. “Making sure that this infrastructure is resilient against coming changes is important.”