are all down tonight, in a major global black out. users have reported being unable to access all three apps, that are owned by facebook, since about five o clock this evening. joining me now is scott helm, a cybersecurity expert. i checked literally a second or two ago, and whatsapp, facebook, still not available to people. what s going on? i available to people. what s going on? . , available to people. what s going on? ., , . . ~ on? i have been checking the incident for on? i have been checking the incident for a on? i have been checking the incident for a few on? i have been checking the incident for a few hours - on? i have been checking the incident for a few hours nowl on? i have been checking the i incident for a few hours now and on? i have been checking the - incident for a few hours now and it looks like this could well be a mistake that facebook app made, in taking their own services down, and it is taking them a lot longer than people thought to bring those service
that is one that actually didn t cause a whole lot of trouble. the one that happened in 1859 was maybe like a hundred times that. bill: this is the flare that comes off the sun right there. this is 30 times the size of the earth. this is a small one. the one from 1859. there was very little technology back then, it was so intense that telegraphs around the world were sparking and setting off fires. bill: really? imagine you do that with your gps satellites and cell no one s and all the thins we have do you could have a global black out. bill: we have that to look forward to. does this keep you up at night, yes or no? martha: you know bill: that s a no. martha: you know what keeps me up at night? what keeps me up at night is that is that i know that some time in the next in my lifetime, and probably within within the next ten or 20 years there is going to be a countrywide black out. and, you know, we are going to
grid operators can adjust things so the forecasts help, but every once in a while there is a storm so big that it could cause essential low a global black out. the last one happened about 150 years ago in 1859, and that s the thing people are really worried about. that s what you want to see coming. think ou things are in washington d.c. right now. imagine instead of earth weather knocking out power in one city. space weather knocking out power across the world, that s what people are worried about. martha: how likely is that. we know it happens and we notice doesn t happen that often. with more satellites like the one you re seeing. there is a japanese satellite and an american satellite, they are watching and monitoring and trying to give us advance warning. but honestly, you know, advance warning the earth could fit in one of those little loops. if it acts up there is not much