But my friend, in 2003 he got stuck in a tiny nyc elevator with 3 other people, for almost an hour. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. Nov 20, 2018 northeast blackout, 2003, people affected. I expanded the findings section with a bit more information on the computer failure that contributed to the blackout. The cause of the blackout stemmed from a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased company. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a reallife event. 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.
Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. Many software bugs are merely annoying or inconvenient but some can have extremely serious consequences either financially or as a threat to human wellbeing. Unpruned trees in ohio affected the power lines and the distribution of electricity. A narration of the events that lead to the great northeast blackout on august 14th, 2003. At the time, it was the second most widespread blackout in history, after the 1999 southern brazil blackout. Areas affected extended from new york, massachusetts, and new jersey west to michigan, and from ohio north to toronto and ottawa, ontario. Deadlock, northeast blackout of 2003, heartbleed, buffer overflow, therac25, memory leak, cloudbleed, shellshock. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the.
I found out about the 2003 blackout when i came home, and the automatic garage door didnt work. Deadlock, northeast blackout of 2003, heartbleed, buffer overflow, therac25, memory leak, cloudbleed. To survive the final blackout, keep on prepping and read on. Demand, and interregional power flows on august 14, 2003, at 15. Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. 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. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003.
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. Pedestrians and traffic leaving downtown manhattan crossing the queensboro bridge after the onset of the largest power blackout in american history, august 14, 2003. A lack of alarm left operators unaware of the need to. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. The massive power outage affected areas in eight northeastern and midwestern states, as well as ontario, canada. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. A timeline of the 2003 blackout august 16, 2003 cbc staff august 14, 2003. The great north america blackout the story shortly after 4 p. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. Aug 14, 2018 its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark. Northeast blackout of 2003archive 3 jump to navigation jump to.
History records that mackinnons reference to the northeast blackout of 2003 understated what happened. 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. This incident serves as a graduation exercise for the course. It was followed by a software bug in the alarm system that did not alert the operators that the lines had become overloaded.
The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. Canada power system outage task force final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united states and canada. Look beyond recycling to the higher goal of sustainability. 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 southwest blackout of 2003 1218 words bartleby. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge world. A software bug apparently caused the largest power outage in north america, the northeast blackout of august 2003, which threw millions of people. Jan 05, 2015 the northeast blackout of 2003 1 ranks high on the list. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211.
The blackout was, in fact, triggered on a hot day by an untrimmed tree in ohio and was aided by a hung alarm system. As the august 14th blackout began, a flaw buried in widelydeployed. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid. Conducting this eyeopening tour is professor stephen ressler of the united states military academy at west point, an awardwinning civil engineer and a nationally honored leader in engineering education.
Triggered by high electrical demand during a sweltering summer day, a short circuit due to overgrown trees, and a software bug that disabled a control room alarm system, the cascading series of breakdowns produced the worstever electric power blackout in north america. 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. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Researchers have run the numbers on an east coast blackout, with. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech.
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. Thats right a blackout is imminent, and the implications are far worse than a nuclear catastrophe in an singular city because it could paralyze an entire country. 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. Remembering the 2003 northeast blackout photos wsj. Because our economy and society are increasingly dependent on computers, we are more vulnerable to disruption of computerbased services. The outage was blamed on a software bug that cascaded into a collapse of the. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. The events wiki claims a software bug in firstenergy. 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. Why a power grid attack is a nightmare scenario thehill. The blackout s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation. 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. 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.
The problem built from there, until 15 8kv lines failed nearly at once at 3. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by firstenergy corporation, located in akron, ohio. However, a nerc report dated june 20, 2003, shows that the slammer worm had a significant impact on some utilities. Torontonians who looked skyward on the evening of aug. Mar 10, 2015 the distraction is ultimately what cost the ship its life and most of us ten dollars at the box office. Aug 14, 20 a decade ago today, on august 14, 2003, the lights went out in the northeastern u. 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. 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.
Blackout page 2 july 7th peoples independent inquiry forum. Im going to suggest that the outage be renamed to northeast blackout of 2003. A software bug failed to redistribute the overloaded transmission lines. But a blackout is no big deal here in upstate ny we get two or three a year. But to expose situations that could negatively impact the customer, maintainability, and usability. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. The majority of software bugs are small inconveniences but there are some notable cases where a simple mistake has caused injury and loss of life. A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to. The following is a list of software bugs with significant consequences. 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. A software bug in the alarm system of firstenergy, a power company located in ohio, was to blame for the blackout.
Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. Happy tenth anniversary, massive northeast blackout. 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. The primary cause of the northeast blackout of 2003 was a bug in energy management software. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later. Its been 16 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. 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. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. One glitch can cause disruptions all the way down the chain. Blaster worm linked to severity of blackout computerworld. 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. 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. 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.
Nba legend reveals truth about lebron james, jayz, yao. 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. Information primarily taken from nercs technical analysis of the system collapse. On thursday, august 14, 2003 a power outage affected an estimated 55 million people in canada and the united states. Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. Software bug contributed to blackout securityfocus. While the causes of this blackout were nothing to do with a software bug, it could have been averted were it not for a. New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. How to prep for a blackout from a to z the survivalist blog. Cleveland, ohio in the space of just a few hours on the hot, humid afternoon of aug. Clair river claim to have been sickened after bathing in the river during the blackout. A massive power outage like argentinas could happen in the.
And in an increasingly integrated global economy, millions of dollars can be lost when systems are down for just a. 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. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Conducting this eyeopening tour is professor stephen ressler of the united states military academy at west point, an awardwinning civil engineer and a nationally honored leader in. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. Caused by inadequately pruned trees and a software bug, this cascading sequence of infrastructure failures holds important lessons for the world of everyday engineering. Understanding the marvels of daily life is an indispensable guide to the way things work in the world around you. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. A massive power outage like argentinas could happen in.
The overall objective of testing is not to find every software bug that exists. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by. The post 6 famous software disasters due to lack of testing appeared first on. A postmortem report on the blackout describes it thusly. While people create software programs everyday issues samples ibm support called for 8,932articles on race condition number growing at the rate of per year. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. Smart electrical grid with big data business insider.