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How do we protect digital data (whether in critical online/offline data centre or personal disk) from man-made EMPs, such as nuclear EMPs, non-nuclear EMPs weapons, etc.

Is E1 EMP indefensible?

Glorfindel
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    The most obvious answer is to not store the data on magnetic media .... – schroeder Apr 24 '21 at 15:24
  • @schroeder - Non-magnetic media such as flash drives would be at risk as well. – user10216038 Apr 24 '21 at 15:42
  • Uh, there are more than flash drives that are non-magnetic – schroeder Apr 24 '21 at 15:43
  • @schroeder thank you for referring the post. The post was more than 9 years ago. The first answer mentions pressed CD as one alternative. Is m-disk the best optical disc tech we can get in 2021? –  Apr 24 '21 at 15:44
  • This has been covered quite well by other sources: https://www.google.com/search?q=digital+storage+resistant+to+emp – schroeder Apr 24 '21 at 15:49
  • @schroeder - The point was that it was not sufficient for you to merely state non-magnetic. – user10216038 Apr 25 '21 at 00:30
  • @schroeder should I be worried about the potential scenario that it will probably be very hard to find software and hardware reading/encrypting/decrypting those CDs,DVDs,or m-disk in the future? –  Apr 25 '21 at 07:29
  • That's always a worry when you are talking about ***long term storage***. But that has nothing to do with EMP. That's a completely different issue. – schroeder Apr 25 '21 at 07:33
  • I'm curious, is this background research for an apocalyptic science fiction story? Even in relative near terms, it's not uncommon for labs to have to scramble for old equipment like: 3 ½ disks, 5 ¼ floppies, or even Jazz drives. Then there's the truly archaic 8 inch floppy and countless Tape systems. Even then we're only talking a handful of decades. – user10216038 Apr 25 '21 at 16:39
  • @user10216038 Tape is magnetic and will be affected by EMPs? I am genuinely interested in how to reduce the risks in case of catastrophic events / black swan happening.. so what is your suggestion? –  Apr 26 '21 at 04:29
  • I can't give you any good answers for EMP planning. I will note however that EMP is Electro Magnetic Pulse, this is NOT a magnetic pulse it's a radio frequency RF field pulse. The primary threat is to unshielded electronics via induced electric signals that fry the components. **It is not a specific threat to magnetic media**, although if the intensity is high enough it too may be effected. – user10216038 Apr 26 '21 at 15:30
  • @user10216038 I cannot easily find accessible information about the science of EMPs. The wiki page of EMPs contains little information. If what you said is true, the name of EMP seems misleading –  Apr 28 '21 at 07:10
  • https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse – user10216038 Apr 28 '21 at 16:46

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