Sunspots form when the sun has lost its dipolar field strength and is in the process of a polarity reversal. The same thing happens on earth about every 44,000 years and is the reason that the earth goes though periods of high volcanic and earthquake activity prior to a reversal.
The earth is vulnerable right now for a reverse polarity coronal mass ejection as our magnetosphere is not as strong.
Our magnetosphere is not as strong due to the alignment of the axis of the earth’s core (Magnetic North Pole) and the rotational axis (Geographic North Pole) causing the dynamo effect to minimize.