Facts about the 2003 northeast blackout started at approx 12. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. Veteran owned small business led by a former white house national security council director and comprised of a talented team of engineers, practitioners, scientists, and academics, disaster tech works hard to provide you with the most effective disaster preparedness, response, and resilience tools. We recognize that our computer system experienced problems that day, said alexander. Internet service issues internet service provider isp failures can. Many others did not get their power back until two days later. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid. Most did not get their power back until two days later. Famous means that the issue enjoyed coverage in mass media. Eight years ago a computer virus accidentally killed power to the entire northeast. 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. Threats and attacks computer science and engineering. Taking after are 6 famous software disasters in as beneath. Shortly after noon, eastlake 5, a power station generator unit owned by firstenergy corporation, an electri.
Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. As a matter of fact, programming bugs can irritate, however, the defective programming can likewise be costly, humiliating, ruinous and savage. On august 14, 2003, a series of faults caused by tree branches touching power lines in ohio, which were then complicated by human error, software issues, and equipment failures, led to the most widespread blackout in north american history. The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure, and its vulnerability to small and relatively benign problems. In more remote areas it took nearly a week to restore power. Normally, the problem would have tripped an alarm in the control room of firstenergy corporation, an ohiobased utility company, but the alarm. What should have been a manageable, local blackout cascaded into widespread distress on the electric grid.
Photo of a toronto street corner during the 2003 blackout by john r. 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. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. 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 after 4. A cascading failure is a process in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of one or few parts can trigger the failure of other parts and so on. 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. And some software bugs can be lethalwhether its in an avionics system or a cars throttle control or a tiny piece of monitoring software installed on a unix computer that just happens to. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures.
The tragic events of 911 awakened america to its critical infrastructures vulnerabilities and to the threats to this infrastructure both physical and cyber. A software bug invoked a blackout spanning the northeast, midwest, and parts of canada. Researchers are asking whether there is a right size for the u. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. We have a power cooperative that seems to be better able to respond, and my conclusion from your article, is that living in a big city and relying on a complex and aging. On august 14 th, 2003, a blackout affected northeast america and canada in which millions of people were affected.
The blackout occurred when a software bug in firstenergys. 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. 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. Technical analysis of the august 14, 2003, blackout nerc. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. Ten years after northeast blackout, fears rise again. Predicting electric power outages before they happen date. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific.
One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on an energy management computer in ohio. Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003. This blackout affected an estimated 55 million people spread across 8 u. The northeast blackout investigation task force, which dagle was a member of, identified four root causes of the. The great north america blackout the story shortly after 4 p. Firstenergy says its problems were some of many issues. Improvising in the blackout, the college student shmuel aziza powers his laptop computer off of a. How to prep for a blackout from a to z the survivalist blog. It was a normal day the electrical load was moderately high due to the air conditioning demand on a hot summer day. More than 50 million people across eight northeastern u.
The main cause was a faulty alarm system that didnt alert. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. At the time, it was the worlds second most widespread blackout in history, after t. The blackout started with a series of events in northern ohio between 12. Embarassingly costly issues, issues resulting in loss of life, or issues having an impact on politics are also considered. In some respects, kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. Computer software data analytics electronic commerce. August 14, 2003 a software bug leads to a failure cascade in the north american power grid 4. Such a failure may happen in many types of systems, including power transmission, computer networking, finance, transportation systems, organisms, the human body, and ecosystems. Ben is the author of five us patents and a number of international.
The largest power outage in united states history, the 2003 northeast blackout, began with one power line in ohio going offline and ended with. New york subways resumed limited services around 8 p. This article claims that the chinese peoples liberation army was behind, among other things, the august 2003 blackout computer hackers in china, including those working on behalf of the chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of u. Software bug contributed to blackout securityfocus. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p.
The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure, and its vulnerability to small and. As the august 14th blackout began, a flaw buried in widelydeployed general electric. The report blamed the thenunexplained computer failure for retarding. A computer monitioring system is a great aid, and in many cases it is.
Industry research suggests that the combination of the internet worms and viruses, the northeast blackout, increased regulations, the events of 911 and the increasing volume and value of. A software bug known as a race condition existed in general electric. Benjamins experience in the field accounts for approximately 27 years as a computer software programmer, programming consultant, and a founder of thinking software, inc. Following what is the most famous computer bug of all time. The story, citing computer security professionals, who in turn \. Kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003.
The great northeast blackout of 2003 caused the failure of more than 508 generating units at 265 separate power plants, causing almost one in every six people in the united states to lose power for up to 2 days. If you hear about a level 3 internet outage today and havent heard this company mentioned before, then you might be wondering how problems involving the level3 network could take down your. Ten years after northeast blackout, fears rise again the. Predicting electric power outages before they happen. Enview launches aipowered solution to automatically. The outage occurred after the market had closed and, for kingdon at least, only lasted about 12. Researcher is working to predict electric power blackouts. The northeast blackout of 2003, which impacted the 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 1428, 2003, beginning just after 4.
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