2003 northeast blackout software bug life

A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. A massive power outage like argentinas could happen in. In 2003, a blackout caused by software failure lasted 31 hours and affected around 50 million people in the uscanada 58. On august 14, 2003, parts of the northeastern united states and southeastern canada experienced widespread power blackouts. The economist, bring me your powerless masses august 27, 2003. 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. This led to a server failure, followed by the failure of a backup server. Can application lifecycle management alm help make. Caused by inadequately pruned trees and a software bug, this cascading sequence of infrastructure failures holds important lessons for the world of everyday engineering. The overall objective of testing is not to find every software bug that exists. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u.

A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to. 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. Absence of communication between all the teams working on the application development. Apr 01, 2003 another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. Blackout page 2 july 7th peoples independent inquiry. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes.

In 2015, a software bug was discovered in the boeing 787 despite over a. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge world. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. The blackout s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation in ohio.

It should stand as a reminder that so much of the infrastructure upon which our society depends for economic life and social order is dependent upon networked computing technology. Even so, the united states had been a net energy importer. Jun 07, 2016 the primary cause of the 2003 northeast blackout was a software bug in the alarm system in an energy companys control room that led to a catastrophic shutdown of the electrical grid, affecting. Blackout page 2 july 7th peoples independent inquiry forum. The 10 most infamous computer glitches ever 40tech. 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.

Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading focus. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. Tracking the blackout bug kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040407.

A decade ago today, on august 14, 2003, the lights went out in the northeastern u. Remembering the 2003 northeast blackout photos wsj. The northeast blackout of 2003 was one of the most critical blackouts in the history which affected more than 50 million people in both the united states and canada. Apr 08, 2004 a number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. Aug 14, 20 sagging power lines and computer glitches led to a power outage that left 50 million people across the northeast u. To some, power was only restored several days later. See figure 1 together, these subsectors produced an astounding 70 quadrillion british thermal units btu in 2003. See figure 1 together, these subsectors produced an astounding 70 quadrillion british thermal units btu in. How and why the blackout began in ohio summary this chapter explains the major eventselectrical, computer, and humanthat occurred as the blackout evolved on august 14, 2003, and identifies the. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. The bug in ge energys xa21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted by ge and a contractor in the weeks following the. The 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.

Its been 15 years since one of the largest blackouts in north american history. But to expose situations that could negatively impact the customer, maintainability, and usability. Due to this blackout, large number of power plants failed and approximately fifty million customers faced power loss which resulted in a huge financial threat to currency. Another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. The northeast blackout of 2003 1 ranks high on the list. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Deadlock, northeast blackout of 2003, heartbleed, buffer overflow, therac25, memory leak, cloudbleed, shellshock. What began as a software bug in the electrical grid of ohio soon escalated into a catastrophic event that left nearly 45 million americans without power, ultimately becoming the worst blackout in north american history. Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. Aug 14, 20 a decade ago today, on august 14, 2003, the lights went out in the northeastern u. A booster went off course during launch, resulting in the destruction of nasa mariner 1. This was the result of the failure of a transcriber to notice an overbar in a written specification for the guidance program, resulting in the coding of an incorrect formula in its fortran software.

More than 50 million people were left without power living in an area of. At the time, it was the second most widespread blackout in history, after the 1999 southern brazil blackout. On august 14, 2003, an enormous electrical blackout struck the northeast and upper midwest of the united states and a large part of western ontario, canada, leaving about or aboot in the great white north 55 million people without electricity for a period lasting between 7 hours and 2 days. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation in ohio. Happy tenth anniversary, massive northeast blackout. 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. The primary cause of the 2003 northeast blackout was a software bug in the alarm system in an energy companys control room that led to a. Sagging power lines and computer glitches led to a power outage that left 50 million people across the northeast u. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Jan 05, 2015 the northeast blackout of 2003 1 ranks high on the list. 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.

On august 14 2003, a major blackout hit northeast america, causing more than 40 million people in eight states and 10 million people in canada to lose power for up to several days. Then close the course by considering the great northeast blackout of 2003. Aug 14, 20 the verrazano sans lights, 2003 via flickr user whiskeygonebad to add to the collection of life tidbits designed to make you feel old that orange is the new blacks yoga jones was the voice of patti mayonnaise on doug, or that ben stiller looks really ancient these days today is the tenth anniversary of the massive northeast blackout that wiped out power in eight u. Investigators attributed the main cause to be the failure of firstenergy corporation to trim trees in parts of ohio, causing power lines to come in contact with the trees, and bringing about a cascading effect that forced the. Security, privacy, governance concerns about smart city. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge by jeremy johnson and alex lefebvre 20 august 2003 the blackout that began last thursday, cutting. Energy pulse, a forum for experts, professionals, and thought leaders in the global power industry. The verrazano sans lights, 2003 via flickr user whiskeygonebad to add to the collection of life tidbits designed to make you feel old that orange is the new blacks yoga jones was the voice of patti mayonnaise on doug, or that ben stiller looks really ancient these days today is the tenth anniversary of the massive northeast blackout that wiped out power in eight u. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later. Look beyond recycling to the higher goal of sustainability. You may not have heard about the northeast blackout of 2003. The blackout occurred when a software bug in firstenergys energy management system was triggered and prevented controllers from hearing any alarms. Feb 12, 2004 the bug in ge energys xa21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted by ge and a contractor in the weeks following the blackout, according to firstenergy corp.

Aug, 20 august 14, 20, will mark 10 years since more than 50 million people in the northeast were left in the dark after an overwhelmed electric system crashed into a devastating blackout. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. In 20, it was a computer problem that shut down the nasdaq stock market for three hours. Discover the amazing feats of engineering in our every day world, such as a roof, plumbing, phone, roads, and more. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation.

The primary cause of the northeast blackout of 2003 was a bug in energy management software. In the made for television drama, the revolution, a teacher. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a reallife event. One of the contributing factors to the 2003 northeast blackout was a software bug in energy management system at an ohio utility. The relevant root cause information is included below. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. On thursday, august 14, 2003 a power outage affected an estimated 55 million people in canada and the united states. Today is the ten year anniversary of the northeast blackout. A massive power outage like argentinas could happen in the. Blaster worm linked to severity of blackout computerworld. Smart electrical grid with big data business insider. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a real life event.

Software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy 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. And in an increasingly integrated global economy, millions of dollars can be lost when systems are down for just a. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. Jun 03, 2010 on august 14, 2003, the northeastern united states, midwestern united states, and ontario canada suffered a massive power outage that affected 55 million people.

Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. And in an increasingly integrated global economy, millions of dollars can be lost when systems are down for just a short while. 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. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge by jeremy johnson and alex lefebvre 20 august 2003 the blackout that began last thursday, cutting electrical power to more than 50 million. Clair river claim to have been sickened after bathing in the river during the blackout. Northeast blackout of 2003first energy outage reports. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. Aug 15, 20 the recordbreaking outage, caused by a software bug in the control room of an energy company in ohio, had a catastrophic effect on the entire. The southwest blackout of 2003 1218 words bartleby.

Ben is the author of five us patents and a number of international patents. August 14, 20, will mark 10 years since more than 50 million people in the northeast were left in the dark after an overwhelmed electric system crashed into a devastating blackout. The north american power grid is structured in such a way that this single failure cascaded to larger and larger geographic areas, leading to the loss of power to more than 55 million people. Torontonians who looked skyward on the evening of aug. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures. The cause of the blackout, the secondlargest power failure in world history following a 1999 blackout in brazil, was a small glitch in one computer. Demand, and interregional power flows on august 14, 2003, at 15. Learn how raw water is treated to make it drinkable and about the incredible feats of engineering it takes to get that water to you. The initial reporting of the cause of this bug was incorrect. For instance, in the 2003 northeast blackout in usa, a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio, eventually caused a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario, affecting an estimated 10 million people in. The blackout was, in fact, triggered on a hot day by an untrimmed tree in ohio and was aided by a hung alarm system.

The 2003 northeast blackout was one of the most important power system failures in the north american history. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by firstenergy corporation, located in akron, ohio. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. 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. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software.