The software should have given one system precedent. The company points out, quite rightly but also narrowly, that it is too soon to tell whether its tripped power plant and lines were the cause or effects of the northeast blackout. News on the blackout of 2003 from nbc part 1 of 5 youtube. An early case of this can be found in the 1965 northeast blackout, when operators unknowingly operated above the unnecessarily conservative thresholds of key relays. Due to the minimal amount of warning time before this event, no significant preparations were taken. 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. The failures occurred when multiple systems trying to access the same information at once got the equivalent of busy signals, he said. Detroit, new york, new jersey, cleveland, toronto that might not be true, but on august 14th at 4. The multiple failures make the problem worse and worse, and a large area ends up in the dark.
A wide variety of events can cause disruption of the power system. Pataki reluctantly recalled one of the two major blackouts of the last 40 years in the northeast the 1965 power failure, which left. The post 6 famous software disasters due to lack of testing appeared first on out fresh. As noted in chapter 1, given the numerous and diverse potential sources of disruption, it is impressive that relatively few largearea, longduration outages have occurred. Id say the 2003 blackout is a good example of how modern infrastructure can fail due to a software read more. The system is inherently vulnerable because transmission lines may span hundreds of miles, and many key facilities are unguarded. Biggest software failures software testing can help catch. Eight years ago a computer virus accidentally killed power to the entire northeast. The ten greatest infrastructure failures in modern history.
A security firm and a software engineer have exposed what they said. As a result, almost every company needs to have a power failure response strategy in place. While major power outages did happen before and after this unique event, none of them came even close to the great northeast. 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. 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. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Software crisis in software engineering ecomputernotes.
After an extensive analysis, we submitted a report to the task force that. More recently, just prior to the august 10 breakup, it is possible that some utilities would have reshaped their generation andor transmission had they known that so many lines. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The analysis of that event, though, identified a collection of system, organizational, and. In the industrialized economies of north america and europe, we more often lose power due to a subtle and difficult challenge. The blackouts roots trace back to a string of events in ohio some natural, some human. Im looking for examples of electronics failures that were due to irresponsible andor unethical engineering practices. There can be uncontrolled collateral damage when an incident spirals out of control to have a wider impact on things such as business reputation, liability and customer satisfaction. However, as it turned out, the cause of the great 2003 northeast blackout was. And like the blackouts in california in 2001, it often. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the power grid, most of which was originally. The outage affected an area with an estimated 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts mw of electric load in the states of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, new york, vermont, massachusetts, connecticut, new jersey and the canadian province of ontario.
Trees and hot weather performed the natural factors. In nearly every major blackout, the situation is the same. When the first system overloaded, it shut down and demand transferred on and on. 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. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles 207,000 km 2 were left. The department of energy and natural resources canada jointly. August 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. Although each blackout is different, the august 14, 2003 blackout experienced some very similar patterns. Edt most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles 207,000 km. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Basically a medical device had a software flaw that caused patients to receive superhigh doses of radiation. California independent system operator tmw 41504 9 the initiating events trees, lightning, birds, equipment failure i.
The northeast blackout is one very, very large example of load capacity failure. While major power outages did happen before and after this unique event, none of them came even. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. Weakness or fault that can lead to an exposure threat. Jun 06, 2017 history of software failure and loses the northeast blackout in 2003 has been one of the major power system failures in the history of north america. On the list of examples of software failures for the computer world article was a software bug apparently caused the largest power outage in north america, the northeast blackout of august 2003, which threw millions of people into darkness. Canadian task force investigating the blackout said in november that firstenergy employees failed to take steps that could have isolated. A software bug known as a race condition existed in general electric.
A case study of the 2003 north american power outage. Feb 05, 2014 the 2003 blackout was caused by transmission wires coming into contact with tree limbs, but the deeper failure was that software at the akron, ohio utility responsible for the initial point of. The great northeast blackout of 1965 the blackout began at about 5. There are many possible problems that can cause massive failures, but they. Another example of hardware failure was the total collapse of a department of defense computer communications network in october 1980. How to prevent blackouts the events of august 14 underscored the need for increased investment in the transmission system, but any investment should be preceded by a prudent analysis of which investments are most necessary. Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. Only one of these outages, july 2012 in india, was due to more electricity demand than could be supplied by existing resources. Specific object, person who poses such a danger by carrying out an attack ddos attacks are a threat if a hacker carries out a ddos attack, hes a threat agent. These lines also overloaded causing cascading overload throughout the northeast. Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Appendix e examples of large outages northeast blackout affecting united states and southeast canada august, 2003 preevent. The power outage that left 50 million wo electricity retro report the new york times duration.
History of software failure and loses the northeast blackout in 2003 has been one of the major power system failures in the history of north america. Pataki reluctantly recalled one of the two major blackouts of the last 40 years in the northeast the 1965 power failure, which left an 80,000squaremile stretch of the united states and. About icf consulting icf consulting is a leading management, technology, and policy consulting firm. Unfortunately, this failure caused the continuallyincreasing electrical demand to transfer to other transmission lines. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days. The 2003 blackout was caused by transmission wires coming into contact with tree limbs, but the deeper failure was that software.
I read the report from the federal power commission on the blackout. In 2000, a zenit 3sl launch failed due to faulty ground software not closing a valve in the rockets second stage pneumatic system. Very few businesses can operate effectively in the event of a sustained outage or blackout as was witnessed during the northeast blackout of 2003. On august 14 th, 2003, a blackout affected northeast america and canada in which millions of people were affected.
I saw the news story on the new england blackout on tv. Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. 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. A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to lunch. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software. Threats and attacks computer science and engineering. The 12 biggest electrical blackouts in history mental floss. May 17, 2016 our world has become highly reliant upon the availability of continuous power. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211.
By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Later, it was determined that the major reason behind the failure was a software bug in the power monitoring and management system. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. A presentation on software crisis linkedin slideshare. The northeast blackout of 1965 journal article osti.
It specified that relay q29bd had tripped, but did not find a reason for the tripping, other than a possible sudden surge that momentarily raised the power above 375 mw. Fifty years ago today, the great northeast blackout affected approximately 30 million people in both the u. System blackout causes and cures by damir novosel 106. Our world has become highly reliant upon the availability of continuous power. For example, the northeast blackout was started by some buggy energy management software. As failures cascaded across the system, power networks began taking. Generic term for objects, people who pose potential danger to assets via attacks threat agent. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Incidents such as three mile island and chernobyl, the tragic explosion of the space shuttle challenger in 1986, and the 1965 northeast power blackout are sobering reminders of the limitations of technology.
The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. As a matter of fact, programming bugs can irritate, however, the defective programming can likewise be costly, humiliating, ruinous and savage. This cause effects a lot to our community as considered one of the famous software disasters in the history. We present a case study for each software failure, the first is the iranian ir655 flight shootdown, the second is the ariane 5 flight failure, the third is the 2003 northeast blackout, and. One piece of the system fails, and then the pieces near it cannot handle the increased load caused by the failure, so they fail. In a matter of seconds, large portions of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, massachusetts, new york, connecticut, new. Aug 14, 20 home 10 years after the 2003 northeast blackout the cascading event, which started shortly after 4. Software security flaws revealed in olas mobile app. The blackout that occurred on august 14, 2003 in the midwest regions of the united states and the province of ontario in canada was the worst in u. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. It specified that relay q29bd had tripped, but did not find a reason for the tripping, other than a possible.
The causes of outages differ in a number of important ways. The european space agency s cryosat1 satellite was lost in a launch failure in 2005 due to a missing shutdown command in the flight control system of its rokot carrier rocket. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. With the software not functioning properly at that point, data that should have been deleted were instead retained, slowing performance, he said. Blackout definition is a turning off of the stage lighting to separate scenes in a play or end a play or skit. The tripping of the sammisstar 345kv transmission line prompted the outcome propagating across borders and turning into a cascading blackout which affected eight states and two provinces in canada. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later.
Solving the 1965 northeast blackout a stepbystep chronology. If you remember the northeast blackout of 2003 in which a software bug plunged 55 million in to the dark then you know the possibility of computer failure taking down the grid. 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. The highpowered electron beam struck the patients with approximately 100 times the intended dose of radiation, delivering a potentially lethal dose of beta radiation. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. And you thought the northeast blackout of 2003 was bad. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. Part one of a twopart series on the northeast blackout of 2003. It spread to seven northeastern states new york, new jersey, connecticut, massachusetts, rhode island, new hampshire and vermont and southeastern ontario, covering 80,000 miles and leaving more than 30 million people in the dark for as long as. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society.
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