Crisis-Ready Society
Scenarios / Power, water & technology

Cyberattacks, GPS and grid failures

Cyberattacks, IT failures and severe space weather can knock out power, payments, navigation and online services, and scammers often exploit the confusion. This page helps your family secure accounts, keep offline backups, and avoid outage scams.

High preparedness value
In the UAEIn the UAE, report online scams and cyber-enabled fraud through the Dubai Police eCrime platform (ecrimehub.gov.ae) or your local police. For emergencies, call police on 999.[10]

Before

  • Protect your email first with a strong unique password or passkey and 2-step verification.[1]
  • Use a password manager to create and store different passwords for each account.[2]
  • Switch on automatic updates for phones, computers and smart home devices.[1]
  • Back up photos and key documents, ideally automatically or at least weekly, and practise restoring them.[3]
  • Keep some cash at home in mixed small notes, and hold cards from more than one provider.[4]
  • Keep printed maps and a paper contact list in case GPS and phones stop working.[5]
  • Keep your car fuel above half and learn to open an electric garage door by hand.[3]
  • Have a solar or hand-crank phone charger and spare phone batteries.[3]

During

  • In a severe space weather alert, save electricity to help prevent forced power cuts.[6]
  • Keep phone calls for emergencies only, and avoid lifts in case power fails.[6]
  • Follow official emergency alerts and instructions carefully.[6]
  • Treat unexpected messages about the outage with suspicion, even if they look official.[7]
  • Watch for scam signs: urgency, threats, claims of authority, or offers that play on fear.[8]
  • Do not click links, scan QR codes or download fixes from unsolicited messages.[7]
  • Check any request by contacting the organisation through its official website, not the message.[8]
  • Remember banks never ask you to confirm account details by email or phone.[8]

After

  • Report scam messages and websites so authorities can take them down.[8]
  • If you think you were scammed, report it to the police straight away.[1]
  • Report suspected fraud quickly, even if you feel embarrassed. Fast reports help.[9]
  • Restore any lost or damaged files from your backups.[1]
  • Replace devices the maker no longer supports with security updates.[1]
  • Review what you share on social media, since scammers use it to target you.[8]

Watch

Short how-to videos for this topic are being added to our channel.
Watch Crisis-Ready Society on YouTube

Official sources

  1. UK Government (Prepare): Cyber
  2. UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC): Top tips for staying secure online
  3. US National Weather Service (NOAA): Before an Extreme Solar Event
  4. Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MCF): Payments and cash in times of crisis
  5. UK Government (Prepare): Phone and broadband outages
  6. US National Weather Service (NOAA): During an Extreme Solar Event
  7. UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC): Statement on major IT outage and phishing threat
  8. UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC): Spot scams
  9. UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC): Phishing attacks: defending your organisation
  10. UAE Government Portal (u.ae): Reporting economic crimes

Steps are written in our own words from these pages. If advice from your local authority differs, follow your local authority.

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