  It is widely established that extreme space weather events associated with
solar flares are capable of causing widespread technological damage. We develop
a simple mathematical model to assess the economic losses arising from these
phenomena over time. We demonstrate that the economic damage is characterized
by an initial period of power-law growth, followed by exponential amplification
and eventual saturation. We outline a mitigation strategy to protect our planet
by setting up a magnetic shield to deflect charged particles at the Lagrange
point L$_1$, and demonstrate that this approach appears to be realizable in
terms of its basic physical parameters. We conclude our analysis by arguing
that shielding strategies adopted by advanced civilizations will lead to
technosignatures that are detectable by upcoming missions.
