Solar Flares... and 2012?

On June 7th, a super solar flare erupted on the sun, spraying massive amounts of electromagnetic particles into space.  Luckily, it was not directed at the earth.  Scientists say we are coming to a high point in the sun's storm cycle in 2013-2014.  Unfortunately, this means there will be more frequent, more intense flares ahead, some of which may be headed straight for us.  The concern?  A direct hit on earth would result in a surge on the power grid with the potential to burn out the industrial-sized generators that give us electricity throughout the world (for an indefinite period of time) but also to wipe out any/all information stored on computer systems.  This means unless banks and government entities have alternate data storage locations in protected faraday cages advanced enough to prevent damage from such an electromagnetic storm, the electronic history of everyone on earth could be wiped clean.  This includes the money I've been saving in the bank- potentially gone.

This site offers some more interesting information (especially the Carrington event) as well as a personal protection measure, a Faraday bag in which you can store your electronics. 

Contrary to all the hype above however, other scientists are saying that not only will the 2013 Solar Maximum be weak, but that it will potentially initiate the beginning of a period of solar inactivity.  While a cool period would affect the earth's climate, it may not yield nearly the devastation of a super solar flare hitting Earth.