It has been one week since the world got a preview of what happens when vital tech systems suddenly go down: grounded flights, postponed surgeries and disrupted 911 call centers worldwide.

But experts say the chaos that ensued from a botched CrowdStrike software update was just a fraction of what could happen as a result of natural disasters or cyberattacks. In one doomsday scenario raised in the wake of last week’s outage, a solar storm could wipe out internet access for weeks.

Jeanine Santucci

USA TODAY