December 16, 2003 this excel file is a summary of all comments submitted at the 121603 meeting. At the time, it was the worlds second most widespread blackout in history. A decade ago today, on august 14, 2003, the lights went out in the northeastern u. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. Canada power system outage task force final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united states and canada. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures. 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. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from. Software security flaws revealed in olas mobile app. 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. We examined the public health effects of the northeast blackout of august 2003 and the emergency response to the blackout by the new york city department of health and mental hygiene dohmh. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. 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. It turns out that a deeply embedded bug was triggered by a series of events on august 14th, and when a backup server kicked in, it could not keep up.
Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. Finding solutions to such technological shortcomings could potentially avert socalled cascading power failures like those that have fanned out across large regions of the united states in recent decades, including the northeast blackout of 2003, the second most widespread power outage in history. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. Nov 11, 20 in 2003, a blackout crippled areas of the u. Did a ninja squirrel cause the northeast blackout in 2003. Nba legend reveals truth about lebron james, jayz, yao. Industry technical conference on august 14 blackout transcript 121603. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a reallife event. Aug 14, 20 this week marked the tenyear anniversary of the northeast blackout, a power outage that occurred along the entire northeast of the united states and parts of canada back on august 14th, 2003. Failure to implement the recommendations would threaten the.
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. Fire departments are response models, not production models. 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. Jul 17, 2016 the outage, which was much more widespread than the northeast blackout of 1965, affected approximately 10 million people in ontario and 45 million people in eight u. 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. More than 50 million people throughout the northeast lost power in the great blackout of 2003. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later. The northeastern blackout 2003 the blackout report. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Indeed, the fragility of the american power grid was starkly illuminated by the 2003 northeast blackout in which a software bug caused a simple local power issue to cascade into an outage. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. The outage was blamed on a software bug that cascaded into a collapse of the.
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. A software bug invoked a blackout spanning the northeast, midwest, and parts of canada. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. The story, citing computer security professionals, who in turn \. The blackout s cause was primarily a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. 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. 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. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark. The cause of the blackout stemmed from a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased company. Much larger than the northeast blackout of 1965, in america alone, this blackout affected 45 million people in 8 states. 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.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian. The massive power outage affected areas in eight northeastern and midwestern states, as well as ontario, canada. The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure, and its vulnerability to small and. Blaster worm linked to severity of blackout computerworld. We investigated mortality in new york, ny, during the largest blackout in us history august 1415, 2003. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by. Northeast blackout of 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 is the second most widespread power outage in history.
I will move this to northeast american blackout of 2003 in two hours time. Jan 05, 20 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. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. It traced the root cause of the outage to the utility company firstenergys failure to trim back.
Today marks the anniversary of not only the great northeast blackout, but of one of the greatest fake photos in internet history one that is still claiming victims today. Software bug contributed to blackout no, nothing to do with blaster, or microsoft. All told, 50 million people lost power for up to two days in the biggest blackout in north american history. The blackout started at 4pm on august 14th, and lasted for an estimated 31 hours in new york city when the power. Aug 14, 2019 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. 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. The blackout s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio.
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. On august 14 and beyond, many ontarians and torontonians might wish to remind themselves where they were on thursday august 14, 2003 at about 4. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. 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. Northeast blackout of 2003 or north america blackout of 2003. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing power, crippling the northeast power grid. It is hard to believe 15 years have passed since a massive power outage left 50 million people in the northeast and midwest in the dark, including metro detroit. A software bug failed to redistribute the overloaded transmission lines. What should have been a manageable, local blackout cascaded into widespread distress on the electric grid.
Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. The northeast blackout of 2003 affected regions from new york to ontario. Investigators found several factorsalarm system issues, software bugs, and an overloaded. Edt eastern daylight time in the afternoon when the power went out, and what they did in the hours and days ahead until the power was restored from the northeast blackout of 2003.
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. Pedestrians and traffic leaving downtown manhattan crossing the queensboro bridge after the onset of the largest power blackout in american history, august 14, 2003. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. Most did not get their power back until two days later. 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.
Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. Its been 16 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by firstenergy corporation, located in akron, ohio. Aug 14, 2018 its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Taking after are 6 famous software disasters in as beneath. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to. 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.
Northeast blackout of 1965 or north america blackout of 1965. History records that mackinnons reference to the northeast blackout of 2003 understated what happened. Remembering the 2003 northeastern blackout in toronto. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the. On august 14, 2003, more than 50 million people across eight u. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. A software bug in the alarm system of firstenergy, a power company located in ohio, was to blame for the blackout. However, a nerc report dated june 20, 2003, shows that the slammer worm had a significant impact on some utilities. The 2003 northeast power blackout jaquo lifestyle magazine. Feb 12, 2004 software bug contributed to blackout no, nothing to do with blaster, or microsoft. The outage, which was much more widespread than the northeast blackout of 1965, affected approximately 10 million people in ontario and 45 million people in eight u. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of. 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.
Unpruned trees in ohio affected the power lines and the distribution of electricity. A software bug stalled firstenergys alarm system for more than an hour. Considered one of the worst blackouts in history, the northeast blackout was caused by a software bug. The outage, which was much more widespread than the northeast blackout of 1965, affected an estimated 10 million people in ontario and 45 million people in eight u. The blackouts cause was primarily a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. This cause effects a lot to our community as considered one of the famous software disasters in the history.
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