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Blackout Cause: Buggy Code

Posted by michael on from the civilization-meets-the-woodpecker dept.

blanca writes "The big northeast blackout from last summer was caused in part by a software bug in an energy managment system sold by General Electic, according to a story on SecurityFocus. The bug meant that a computerized alarm that should have been triggered never went off, hindering FirstEnergy's response to the train of events that lead to the cascading blackout. Investigators found the bug in a intensive code audit following the outage, and a patch is now available."

17 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. fp? by CptChipJew · · Score: 4, Funny

    The first thing I saw at that site, "Reliable, Field-Proven & Adaptable". Funny.

    Well, that statement is only half false, it's reliability has been field-proven.

    --
    Vonal Declosion
  2. Patch Available by LegionX · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Patch available"

    Phew! then at least i can patch my own power craft before anything happens!

  3. This spells trouble by dbIII · · Score: 3, Funny
    software bug in an energy managment system sold by General Electic,
    Amazing what a difference a spelling mistake can make - especially in code.
    1. Re:This spells trouble by duffbeer703 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Indeed. We all must consider ourselves incredibly lucky that the /. editors are not working on energy management software or embedded medical devices.

      Subscribe to Slashdot -- we have to keep these guys employed and out of the real world!

      --
      Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
  4. Wrong article! by ThePretender · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh this bug took six months to find and now a patch is available. I thought someone said the bug was found six months ago and now the patch was available. My bad, nobody would ever do that :-)

  5. the bug of my dreams by vargul · · Score: 5, Funny

    i have been dreaming writting such a bug myself. quite an achievement to blackout quarter of a continent with some crappy code...

    --
    Aure entuluva!
  6. Re:Yes but how is Microsoft responsible? by s20451 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Only half right. We have to find a way to make Linux and/or open source the shining alternative.

    --
    Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
  7. Blame Canada by olderchurch · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought the Canadians did it?

    --
    Disclaimer: This opinion was created without the use of any facts
  8. Will they apply it?! by weave · · Score: 4, Funny
    a patch is now available

    I'm waiting for the next big power failure, then the excuses about why the patch was never applied. :)

  9. Hmmm... by supersam · · Score: 4, Funny

    One code to light it all,
    One coder to code it,
    One debugger to miss the bug
    and into the darkness lead them. ...

  10. Typo... by MarsCtrl · · Score: 3, Funny
    The big northeast blackout from last summer was caused in part by a software bug in an energy managment system sold by General Electic, according to a story on SecurityFocus.

    This is Slashdot! Isn't that supposed to say Microsoft? It's always Microsoft.
    --

    I was going to put a sig here, but I had already submitted the message.
  11. Re:Text of the article by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 5, Funny
    The comment preceding the code in question was:
    // Not sure why this works for my test data.
    // Probably should come back and re-write this
    // if we have time before the product ships.
  12. Re:Development vs Engineering by kinnell · · Score: 4, Funny
    Is it true that some states have prohibited Microsoft from issuing MSCEs? I heard this somewhere but I can't remember. Something about Microsoft not having the authority to certify engineers

    But couldn't the "Microsoft Certified" part be interpretted as a disclaimer? Something along the lines of "Burger King Certified Brain Surgeon".

    --
    If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
  13. Yeah, right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, I have news for you: 50MV lines don't exist! Not out in the open, anyway. Was it 50 kV, perchance?

  14. Re: ms WAS responsible - chain of events by galtsavenger · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure this was mentioned in the original blackout posts - since the Blaster virus was running full tilt at that time, there was an increased load on servers, routers, switches, hubs and blinky things that go whoop! whoop!! WHOOOOP! The increased demand on computing resources caused increased power demand (not to mention the cranked ACs at the homes of the poor IT staff who were staring at their blackberrys and sweating bullets) which in turn caused the alarm conditions which didn't get alarmed properly and so the powergrid went down. All because of an MS security hole.

    How's that?

  15. Re:GE Outsourcing To India by TheSync · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh mgod, we better stop outsourcing our precious programming jobs to Florida!

    It is unpatriotic to move them from California, where they belong! I bet they pay the people in Florida a lot less.

    (This is a joke)

  16. Re:Development vs Engineering by dmuth · · Score: 3, Funny
    I explained that while medicince has been around for a very long time, the degree of MD has not. PhDs degrees have a much longer history than MD degrees.


    Heh, that reminds me of a friend of mine who happens to be a PhD. He likes to poke fun at MDs by saying, "Back in the middle ages, it was the learned scholar who was called 'Doctor'. The man who cut into you was called 'BARBER'!"

    And he's teased his physician about this on several occaisions, saying things like, "Just take a little off the top, please!". :-)