Tech outage: Here's how to fix the dreaded 'Blue Screen of Death'

RESPONSE FROM OUR LEADERS HERE IN THE US COMING UP ON 819. WELL, WE'VE BEEN REPORTING ON THIS OUTAGE. THAT'S BEEN THE BREAKING NEWS THIS MORNING. THE INTERNET OUTAGE THAT HAS AFFECTED SO MANY BUSINESSES AND AIRPORTS. AND NOW WE'RE LEARNING IT'S ALSO AFFECTING THE PHILADELPHIA COURTS. WE'VE LEARNED THAT THEY WILL BE CLOSED TODAY BECAUSE OF THIS TECHNOLOGY OUTAGE. AND WE KNOW THAT IF YOU HAVE JURY DUTY THAT'S NO LONGER HAPPENING TODAY, AND THEY ASK YOU TO GO TO THEIR WEBSITE TO SEE WHEN IT'S GOING TO BE RESCHEDULED, AND THEY WILL REACH OUT WITH THAT. BUT THERE'S BEEN SO MANY QUESTIONS. IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY HOUR WE LEARN ABOUT NEW AREAS OF THE WORLD AND OF OUR AREA THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THIS OUTAGE, AND YOU'VE BEEN TWEETING US PEOPLE SAYING SOME OF THE GAS STATIONS HAVE BEEN CLOSED, THE SPEEDWAYS, SOME OF THE HEALTH SYSTEMS ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY AS WELL, AND THEY'RE CANCELING SOME OF THE APPOINTMENTS. SO WE KNOW THAT IT'S A CYBERSECURITY FIRM CALLED CROWDSTRIKE. AND THEY SAYS IT'S NOT A SECURITY ISSUE THAT ACTUALLY OR A CYBER ATTACK THAT IT WAS LIKE AN UPDATE AND THAT AFFIXES ON THE WAY. BUT UNTIL THEN WE GOT QUESTIONS. YES, WE DO. SO TO BREAK THIS DOWN, WE HAVE OUR TECH EXPERT, ANTHONY MACALUSO JOINING US NOW. IT'S BEEN QUITE A BUSY MORNING. AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE JUST WAKING UP AND WE HEARD KAREN MENTION ABOUT CROWDSTRIKE, THE COMPANY, BUT WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED HERE. SO IT WAS A BAD UPDATE. TALK ABOUT A BUSY MORNING WHEN YOU OWN AN IT COMPANY AND THE COMPANY THAT'S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOUR NETWORK AND KEEP YOU SAFE AND SECURE, IRONICALLY TAKES YOU DOWN? IT'S A BIG PROBLEM. SO I THINK SOMEONE'S GOING TO BE GETTING FIRED FROM CROWDSTRIKE. THERE WAS AN UPDATE THAT CAUSED THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH THAT YOU SEE, AND BASICALLY IT SHOWS YOU HOW INTERCONNECTED THE WORLD IS AND HOW POPULAR CROWDSTRIKE IS. AIRLINES, HEALTH SYSTEMS, BANKS, EVERYTHING DOWN. WE'RE SO RELIANT ON TECHNOLOGY. SO WHAT IS CROWDSTRIKE? YOU KNOW, IF THAT'S NOT A HOUSEHOLD NAME FOR MANY PEOPLE, UNLESS YOU OWN WHATEVER SOME BIG, YOU KNOW, SYSTEM. SO WHAT IS IT IN THE FIRST PLACE? SO THINK OF CROWDSTRIKE AS ANTIVIRUS ON STEROIDS FOR BIG COMPANIES. BASICALLY, IT USES FUNCTIONS SUCH AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND OTHER WAYS TO PROTECT COMPANIES FROM CYBER ATTACKS FROM THE BAD GUYS. SO AGAIN, THESE MAJOR AIRLINES AND MAJOR CORPORATIONS. AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES RELY ON CROWDSTRIKE TO PREVENT DOWNTIME AND YET HERE WE ARE. SO WHEN IT COMES TO THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, WE HEARD A LOT OF FOLKS MENTION THAT THIS MORNING. AND IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR, I MEAN, IT CERTAINLY SOUNDS OMINOUS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? AND WHEN YOU SEE THAT, WHAT KIND OF EFFECT DOES THAT HAVE ON YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM OR ON YOUR COMPUTER? SO THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH BASICALLY MEANS THE COMPUTER CHOKED ON SOMETHING. SOMETHING DIDN'T WORK. IT ISSUED A COMMAND THAT IT COULDN'T PROCESS, AND IT GOES DOWN INSTANTLY. SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS EVERY SERVICE THAT'S CONNECTED TO THAT SYSTEM IS NO LONGER ACCESSIBLE. NOW, AGAIN, IMAGINE WHEN YOU HAVE SO MANY DIFFERENT COMPANIES BETWEEN BANKS AND AIRLINES AND HEALTH SYSTEMS AND ALL OF THESE COMPANIES INTERCHANGING YOUR SYSTEMS MIGHT BE FINE, BUT IF YOU'RE RELYING ON ANOTHER SYSTEM THAT WAS PROTECTED BY CROWDSTRIKE, YOU CAN'T PERFORM YOUR DUTY. SO IMAGINE IF YOU NEED SURGERY RIGHT NOW, OR YOU'RE AT THAT AIRPORT AND YOU JUST NEED TO GET SOMEWHERE. BUT THE COMPUTER IS SIMPLY OFF. THAT'S WHERE WE'RE AT, AND IT PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO GO INTO EACH SYSTEM AND LITERALLY REBOOT IT INTO A REPAIR OR SAFE MODE FUNCTION AND DELETE THE IMPACTED FILE THAT'S CAUSING THIS. AND YOU'RE TALKING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF SYSTEMS GLOBALLY. AND THAT'S INTERESTING THAT YOU MENTIONED THAT BECAUSE CROWDSTRIKE, THEY DID RELEASE A STATEMENT. AND WHERE THEY SAID THE ISSUE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED, ISOLATED AND A FIX HAS BEEN DEPLOYED. KEY WORD ON THAT PART OF THE SENTENCE, A FIX HAS BEEN DEPLOYED. SO LIKE YOU'RE SAYING, EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN DEPLOYED, I GUESS IMPLEMENTING THAT AND GETTING THINGS BACK ON TRACK, THAT'S STILL A WHOLE NOTHER BATTLE. EXACTLY. SO I MEAN, THE FIX BEING DEPLOYED IS GOOD FOR SYSTEMS THAT DIDN'T GET THE UPDATE, BUT IF MY SYSTEM IS DOWN AND HAS A BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, I NEED A HUMAN INTERACTION ON EVERY ONE OF THOSE SYSTEMS. THERE'S NOT A MAGIC WAND THAT I COULD DO TO BASICALLY BRING EVERYTHING BACK TO LIFE. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE A MANUAL TASK. IT'S GOING TO BE A GRUELING TAS, AND WE'RE GOING TO FEEL THE IMPACT OF THIS FOR DAYS. IF NOT LONGER. THAT'S WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO ASK IS JUST HOW LONG YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE TAKEN? BECAUSE WE'RE JUST FINDING OUT, LIKE MORE AND MORE OF THESE SYSTEMS THAT ARE DOWN. AND SO YOU THINK, HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THIS WILL TAKE TO GET MOST OF THESE THINGS BACK UP? I THINK WE'LL BE BACK UP IN 24 TO 48 HOURS FULLY. BUT THE OTHER ISSUE IS THE BACKLOG, RIGHT? YOU HAVE ALL THESE FLIGHTS AND YOU HAVE ALL THESE OTHER THINGS THAT ARE NOW CLOGGED IN THE SYSTEM THAT HAVE TO BE FIGURED OUT. WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL THE SURGERIES THAT WERE SCHEDULED? WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL THE DRIVER'S TESTS? SO EVEN THOUGH WE'RE GOING TO BE BACK UP PER SAY, WITHIN THE NEXT DAY OR TWO, WE'RE GOING TO SUFFER FROM THIS BECAUSE BASICALLY THE WORLD IS SHUT DOWN AND THIS SHOULD BE A BIG WAKE UP CALL ABOUT OUR INFRASTRUCTURE, OUR SYSTEMS, AND JUST HOW VULNERABLE WE ARE. THIS WAS THIS WAS A MISTAKE. THIS, FORTUNATELY, WAS NOT A CYBER ATTACK, BUT IT SURE FEELS LIKE ONE. OKAY, WELL, THAT'S A GOOD POINT BECAUSE IT'S JUST LIKE ALL THOSE THINGS LIKE YOU WAIT MONTHS TO GET YOUR DMV APPOINTMENT OR YOUR SURGERY SCHEDULED, AND THEN YOU WAIT MONTHS AGAIN. YEAH, ALL OF THAT STUFF. ANTHONY. THANK YOU. THAT WAS GREAT. THANK YOU FOR BREAKING THAT DOWN. AND OF COURSE, AS WE LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS THAT ARE BEING AFFECTED A