Although it may sound like an event close to science fiction or conspiracy theories, the danger of Internet service going down At a global level it is more than fearsome.
After the first few minutes of the great hypothetical Internet blackout, the most obvious consequence would be the absence of telecommunications beyond a radio at home.
After several hours, there would be several tense situations, such as payment management in banking entitiesthe importance of cash or the impossibility of accessing media beyond radio and television.
If not resolved in one day, the consequences could be catastrophic, with the collapse of physical services in the face of digital absencesuch as appointment reservations in public health.
Something like this would take a huge toll on different societies. For this reason, and given the importance of the Internet at a global level, it is worth asking what would happen if there were a prolonged Internet outage over time.
So many countries have considered this scenario and have already established plans to avoid this possible catastrophic event.
What could lead to a global Internet shutdown
The causes of a possible global network outage are many, although the most obvious are related to natural causes, such as climate change disasters or solar stormsdevastating for communications.
In addition to these natural events, there is also the possibility of coordinated attacks on different submarine cableswhich are responsible for bringing the Internet to different locations; a ruling here would be relevant.
For example, the single cable breakage left connection offline to an entire country, as happened in 2022 with Tonga due to a volcanic eruption that left the underwater cable unusable.
However, the presence of a greater risk coming from the world of cybersecurity is also evident, given the palpable possibility of a attack on critical infrastructure for political reasons.
As well as a possible open war between countries, which would lead to a situation of intentional Internet outages and attacks on infrastructure as power plants, with the aim of leaving the grid without power.
With all these logical risks, there are countries that have emergency plans in a situation of such magnitude.
The plan of some countries to avoid the fall of the Internet
Russia, in a war context, has been considering the creation of Runet, the «sovereign network» that would survive a worldwide Internet blackout and could withstand network outages in other countries.
In this specific case, its application would be as if Russia will disconnect from the rest of the worldwhile the rest of the world cannot access the country’s internal network.
The other countries, it should be noted, do not have plans completely aimed at an Internet outage either, although some regions are much more prepared than others. This is the case of China is more prepared for the Internet crash.
Just as Russia, faced with a global blackout, could cope with this scenario, China also has the same capabilities, which can operate locally, although so does Estonia, which has created backup copies for restoration of services.
Now this refers to grid outages not the power systemsince in this case all countries would face Internet problems, depending completely on electricity and data centers.
In conclusion, the Internet collapse would lead to systemic problems for something as necessary as shopping or something as specific as accessing a family member’s latest Facebook status update.