In 2015, a software bug was discovered in the boeing 787 despite over a. High cost of software failure denver airport baggage system 1995. Examples include standard fac003 mandatory to keep trees clear of. But reckless deregulation, market manipulation and artificial shortages did. About icf consulting icf consulting is a leading management, technology, and policy consulting firm. The two primary case studies produced by the nasa safety center are the safety and mission assurance sma focus and the system failure case study. California independent system operator tmw 41504 the northeast blackout ieee spring banquet san francisco chapter april 15, 2004 terry m.
Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. The 12 biggest electrical blackouts in history mental floss. Data recovery software can only recover data that has been lost due to logical failure, such as file deletion, accidental reformatting, or filesystem corruption. While major power outages did happen before and after this unique event, none of them came even. Blackout threat unmitigated a decade after the northeast went. The northeastern blackout 2003 the blackout report. Apr 08, 2004 a silent failure of the alarm function in firstenergys computerized energy management system ems is listed in the final report as one of the direct causes of a blackout that eventually cut off. Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles 207,000 km 2 were left without electricity for up to hours. Canadian task force investigating the blackout said in november that firstenergy employees failed to take steps that could have isolated utility failures because its datamonitoring and. The bug in ge energys xa21 system was discovered in an. While major power outages did happen before and after this unique event, none of them came even close to the great northeast blackout of 1965.
Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. It was a massive power outage that affected parts of the northeastern u. If a mission critical feature has one of these failure modes the effect will generally be severe, however, nonmission critical features encountering these failure modes may still have a severe consequence. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. The blackout occurred on november 9, 1965, and affected connecticut, massachusetts, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, rhode island, pennsylvania, and vermont, as well as part of ontario. The bug in ge energys xa21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted. The sma focus provides important information, reminders, tips and guidance on various sma topics for specific audiences within the sma community, while the system failure case study examines.
If it is a complex logical issue, though, these tools will often fail. The nra used a sunday night tweet to explain that magpul industries a renowned magazine and firearm accessory maker sent 1,000 magazines to the gun rights organization in order to have them given out to prosecond amendment virginians on monday. Later, it was determined that the major reason behind the failure was a software bug in the power monitoring and management system. Turns out after all the various speculation on reasons, the big northeast blackout from last summer was the result of a software bug that was only just discovered. The northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on tuesday, november 9, 1965, affecting parts of ontario in canada and connecticut, massachusetts, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, rhode island, pennsylvania, and vermont in the united states. Aug 14, 20 home 10 years after the 2003 northeast blackout the cascading event, which started shortly after 4. The south american power outage that plunged 48 million into. The multiple failures make the problem worse and worse, and a large area ends up in the dark. New york subways resumed limited services around 8 p. Insured losses represent between 3% and 64% of total loss costs across the case studies. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software.
The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. Californias rolling blackouts in 2001 sent pundits harking back to the great 1965 northeast blackout. This software bug cost power customers an estimated six billion dollars. In a matter of seconds, large portions of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, massachusetts, new york, connecticut, new.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. These top 15 worst computer software blunders led to embarrassment, massive financial losses, and even death. The department of energy and natural resources canada jointly commissioned a task force that. The second was the new york blackout of 1977, which affected a much smaller service areathe metropolitan regionbut resulted in severe looting and disruption. Northeast blackout of 2003 hudson, morris, essex, union, passaic, and bergen the northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and canada. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days.
The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. A software bug stalled firstenergys alarm system for more than an hour, leaving. The cases include the 1977 new york city blackout, the 2003 northeast blackout, multiyear national annual lightningrelated electrical damage and multiyear national linedisturbance events. Detroit, new york, new jersey, cleveland, toronto that might not be true, but on august 14th at 4. A case study of the 2003 north american power outage. Blackout in northeast over attack on power installations. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 14, 2003, beginning just after 4. Aug 14, 2018 the blackout was a telling example of how vulnerable modern infrastructure can be to disruption and a reminder that our sophisticated failure prevention systems are only as effective as the.
The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. This playbook highlights some of the most common use cases for security orchestration and. The electrical resistance of a power line causes it to produce more heat as the current it carries increases. Scud missile attack patriot missile system, 2003 northeast blackout race condition therac 25 peak load conditions. A lack of alarm left operators unaware of the need to redistribute power after overloaded transmission lines hit unpruned foliage, which triggered a race condition in the control software. A case study of the 2003 north american power outage key questions what were the main vulnerabilities and threats related to the electricity subsector of the energy sector at the time of the blackout. Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. Standard per003, for example, requires that operating personnel have at least the minimum. In many cases these will also describe system restoration, which can be more complex and provide more insight into needed improvements than the disturbance itself. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures.
Jun 01, 2002 californias rolling blackouts in 2001 sent pundits harking back to the great 1965 northeast blackout. Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. The cases include the 1977 new york city blackout, the 2003 northeast blackout, multiyear national annual lightningrelated electrical damage, and multiyear national linedisturbance events. A silent failure of the alarm function in firstenergys computerized energy management system ems is listed in the final report as one of the direct causes of a. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Fifty years ago today, the great northeast blackout affected approximately 30 million people in both the u. Sfmeas are much more effective when conducted on use cases and design than high level requirements. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. The highpowered electron beam struck the patients with approximately 100 times the intended dose of radiation, delivering a potentially lethal dose of beta radiation. Commercial electrical power can be lost due to downed lines, malfunctions at a substation, inclement weather, planned rolling blackouts, or in extreme cases a gridwide failure. Causes of the august 14th blackout in the united states and canada, published in november and based on detailed research by a panel of government and industry officials, blames the blackout on an unlucky series of failures that allowed a small.
One piece of the system fails, and then the pieces near it cannot handle the increased load caused by the failure, so they fail. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just before 4. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern. As a matter of fact, programming bugs can irritate, however, the defective programming can likewise be costly, humiliating, ruinous and savage. According to news reports in april of 2004, a software bug was determined to be a major contributor to the 2003 northeast blackout, the worst power system failure in north american history. Blackout details and timeline the details of the 2003 blackout will now be summarized, but a more thorough investigation of the matter can be found in 1. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. All software failure modes can result in catastrophic failure and all can result in a noncritical failure. The map here shows the 24 states and district of columbia that have deregulated or attempted to deregulate their electric system. In this case, the lines hit tree branches that hadnt been properly trimmed. The blackout s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation in ohio.
The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. The blackout s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control. The destruction of gas installations by the niger delta militants and attack on electricity poles, cables and installations along biudamboamaiduguri road by boko haram militants have thrown a large part of the north eastern region into darkness with maiduguri, the borno state capital, not. Needless to say, computers and the software that makes them useful, have an even larger impact on our lives than olsen could have expected, and when things go wrong, they really go wrong. The story of the blackout immediately after the interruption of electric service throughout most of the northeast united states and the province of ontario on the evening of november 9, 1965, you directed the chairman of the federal power commission to launch a thorough study of. The ten greatest infrastructure failures in modern history. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. The south american power outage that plunged 48 million.
News on the blackout of 2003 from nbc part 1 of 5 youtube. Edt most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Feb 11, 2004 turns out after all the various speculation on reasons, the big northeast blackout from last summer was the result of a software bug that was only just discovered and not as many had speculated. Northeast blackout of 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 is the second most widespread power outage in history. Top 15 worst computer software blunders intertech blog. However, as it turned out, the cause of the great 2003 northeast blackout was. As will be shown, the 2003 northeast blackout was heavily based in these concepts. California independent system operator tmw 41504 9 the initiating events trees, lightning, birds, equipment failure i.
Chapter 4 discusses conditions on the regional power system on and before august 14 and identifies conditions and failures that did and did not contribute to the blackout. If the logical issue is not very complex, recovery software will often do its job just fine. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. In nearly every major blackout, the situation is the same. Basically a medical device had a software flaw that caused patients to receive superhigh doses of radiation. The cases include the 1977 new york city blackout, the 2003 northeast blackout, multiyear national annual lightningrelated electrical damage. The first event, the great northeast blackout of 1965, was part of a massive cascading system failure that, in the span of fifteen minutes, left 30 million people in the dark. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. Chapter 5 describes the afternoon of august 14, starting from normal operating.
In 2003, a blackout caused by software failure lasted 31 hours and affected around 50 million people in the uscanada 58. Much larger than the northeast blackout of 1965, in america alone, this blackout affected 45 million people in 8 states. Reliability council nerc and, in some cases, deficiencies in the standards themselves. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation in ohio. Jul 22, 2019 a massive power outage in south america last month left most of argentina, uruguay, and paraguay in the dark and may also have impacted small portions of chile and brazil. If this heat is not sufficiently dissipated, the metal. A massive power outage in south america last month left most of argentina, uruguay, and paraguay in the dark and may also have impacted small portions of. The cover photograph shows times square and the union carbide building in midtown manhattan of new york city, new york, during the great northeast blackout.
But the second unit had failed in the identical manner a few milliseconds before. With the software not functioning properly at that point, data that should have been deleted. As a business continuity practitioner, i regularly explore if businesses have implemented any lessons learned from the northeast power blackout of. Bad design, lack of maintenance, human error, mother nature, bad luck, or some combination thereof. The software should have given one system precedent.
And like the blackouts in california in 2001, it often. Improvements in testing, debugging, and maintenance could reduce this. The blackout was a telling example of how vulnerable modern infrastructure can be to disruption and a reminder that our sophisticated failure prevention systems are only as effective as the. At least in parts of the northeast and in california, the regulatory changes have resulted in confusion, fingerpointing and hollow promises of low cost. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. Software crisis in software engineering ecomputernotes.
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