emergenCITY experts comment the blackout and criticism of warning messages
Following the berlin in south-west Berlin, which lasted several days in the beginning of January, regional and national media reported extensively on the events. Experts from the LOEWE Research Center emergenCITY and form the Application and Transfer Center DiReX (Digital Resilience Xchange) commented the incident in the media from a scientific perspective. The focus was on both the resilience of critical infrastructure and the functioning of government warning systems.
Michèle Knodt, deputy coordinator of emergenCITY and director of DiReX, pointed out in interviews with hessenschau and Darmstädter Echo on January 6 that it is virtually impossible to completely protect critical infrastructure from sabotage.
“Rather than thinking about where to build a higher fence, it is much more important to ensure that our critical infrastructures are resilient”, said Michèle Knodt in hessenschau on January 5.
Redundancies and decentralized backup solutions play a central role. As a concrete example, Knodt referred to the adverting column Litfaßsäule 4.0, developed at emergenCITY, an energy-self-sufficient communication medium that can display official information even during power outages.
In the course of the blackout, cell broadcasting systems also came under public criticism. Many Berlin inhabitants received a mobile phone alert with the warning level “Extreme Danger”, even though the message merely announced the restoration of power. In an expert interview with cybersecurity researcher and emergenCITY PI Christian Reuter, the web news portal WEB.DE Digital reported that the confusion was caused by standardised text templates in the cell broadcast system, which automatically trigger high warning levels. The article discusses the danger of uncertainty, panic and warning fatigue when warning messages are not used proportionately.
Christian Reuter emphazises in the interview on January 14: “Warnings should of course only be issued when there is danger”.
According to the scientist, who himself conducts research into decentralized technical solutions—such as how cell phones can share information with each other when central infrastructures fail, or how smart home devices can issue warnings—it is not only crucial whether a warning is issued, but also how the warning is phrased and classified.
hessenschau, January 5: “Wie gut ist Hessen vor einem Blackout geschützt?”
Darmstädter Echo online, January 6: “Wie gut ist Darmstadt gewappnet gegen Stromnetz Sabotage?” (Paywall)
WEB.DE Digital, January 14: „Berliner Handyalarm verwirrt: Wie sicher sind unsere Warnsysteme?“.
