{"id":120889,"date":"2026-05-05T21:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/un-calls-for-preparedness-if-digital-systems-fail\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:32:50","slug":"un-calls-for-preparedness-if-digital-systems-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/un-calls-for-preparedness-if-digital-systems-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"UN calls for preparedness ‘if digital systems fail’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the nightmare scenario the United Nations is trying to avoid, in a call<\/a> All member states must work together to avoid the widespread impacts of the \u201cdigital pandemic\u201d.<\/p>\n

The risks to all of us are real and they have already been seen on Earth and in space, including a solar storm in 2012 that narrowly missed Earth, which could have destroyed power grids and communications across entire continents.<\/p>\n

“The common denominator of these unintended disruptions is their tendency to grow rapidly.<\/strong> Whose impact spreads across sectors like finance, healthcare, transportation, energy and communications. And this can often happen simultaneously,\u201d warned Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the International Telecommunication Union. ITU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Digital risks: from solar storms to extreme weather<\/h2>\n

In 1859, a powerful solar storm \u2013 the Carrington Event \u2013 \u200b\u200bdisrupted telegraph systems around the world, causing electrical waves so intense that “sparks” flew from the devices, causing communications to stop \u2013 the 19th century equivalent of an Internet outage.<\/p>\n

The ITU warns that such unintentional disruptions remain a real threat today –UNDRR<\/a> Report.<\/p>\n

But the risks are no longer limited to space weather. Extreme heat, storms and other climate-driven threats are increasingly capable of damaging digital infrastructure, from power grids to data cables.<\/p>\n

Because modern society is so dependent on digital networks, the impact of such failures could be global, rapid, and far more severe.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>When digital systems fail: the hidden risks of our digital world <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Other risks include Worrying increase in space debris<\/strong> Which is already threatening to make it impossible to launch satellites, which could lock us out of space.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) as well as the ITU have warned that this would simultaneously jeopardize satellite navigation, financial networks and weather forecasting.<\/p>\n

Both agencies say extreme weather is becoming more violent with climate change and has completely destroyed digital infrastructure, turning disasters into humanitarian crises.<\/p>\n

widespread failures<\/h2>\n

The report shows that digital disruption is rarely limited to isolated events, but rather grows gradually. This is underlined by data that 89 percent of digital disruptions associated with natural hazards are caused by secondary impacts rather than the initial shock. <\/p>\n

“The number of people ultimately affected may be 10 times greater than those initially exposed<\/strong>\u201cFor the original incident, UN agencies said.<\/p>\n

Kamal Kishore, head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), said the risk is systemic. “Many of these risks are invisible. Sometimes interdependence is not fully recognized.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

He warned that Failures in a system can rapidly propagate outward<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

“If the power system goes down…most telecom towers have a nine-hour backup and after that, it won’t work. When telecoms don’t work, ATM machines don’t work, (and) people don’t have access to their cash.”<\/p>\n

action points<\/h2>\n

Despite the risks, the report emphasizes that the solution is not to retreat from digital technologies, but to Prepare better for your failure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Now is the time to start preparing for significant digital risks more intentionally,<\/strong>Ms. Bogdan-Martin said.<\/p>\n

The report outlines six priority areas for action, including improving risk mapping, strengthening international standards, increasing coordination across sectors, and building society’s capacity to absorb and recover from disruptions.<\/p>\n

It also calls for stronger global cooperation and better use of early warning systems to translate risk awareness into action.<\/p>\n

“This report … makes it very alive, very real,” Mr Kishore said. \u201cThe risk of digital disaster is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the nightmare scenario the United Nations is trying to avoid, in a call All member states must work together to avoid the widespread impacts of the \u201cdigital pandemic\u201d. The risks to all of us are real and they have already been seen on Earth and in space, including a solar storm in 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2500,4422,8560,8574,7764],"class_list":["post-120889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-verse","tag-calls","tag-digital","tag-fail","tag-preparedness","tag-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120891,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120889\/revisions\/120891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}