This greatly exaggerates the actual area of the blackout. 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 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. Aug 21, 2019 the more complex a software system, the more likely you are to have issues between the individual functioning parts. Technical analysis of the august 14, 2003, blackout nerc. Blaster worm linked to severity of blackout computerworld. The blackout was, in fact, triggered on a hot day by an untrimmed tree in ohio and was. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. We text exhaustively, we test with third parties, and we had in excess of. This is an animation created from a simulation of the 2003 northeast blackout. Aug 14, 20 ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark.
An analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Imagine being in nycnj and being able to see deep sky. We investigated mortality in new york, ny, during the largest blackout in us history august 1415, 2003. 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 northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. To nobodys surprise, the final report on the blackout released by a uscanadian.
In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures. Software bug contributed to blackout it failures in the great us blackout sparks over us power grid cybersecurity ncsp drafts secure code. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. Overview of the blackout of 2003 power systems engineering. The overall objective of testing is not to find every software bug that exists. This chapter explains the major eventselectrical, computer, and humanthat occurred as the blackout evolved on august 14, 2003, and identifies the causes of the initiation of the blackout. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge world. Northeast blackout nyc august 14th15th, 2003 duration. Sign up for the complex newsletter for breaking news, events, and unique. Sep 20, 2017 the northeast blackout of 2003 posted in light pollution.
Think about medical devices controlled by software. But even where recovery efforts went swimmingly, experts and it executives say there are lessons to learn from the blackout of 2003. As i sit here and plan a drive 3 hours to a blue zone in ny murphy hill state forest anyone been there. However, a nerc report dated june 20, 2003, shows that the slammer worm had a significant impact on some utilities. Even if the tripped lines and firstenergys failure to detect and report them prove to be the exclusive initiating cause of the 2003 blackout, it still will be necessary to account for the failure. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four.
Therefore, it is critical to test the interaction between those parts before release. Biggest software failures software testing can help catch. But to expose situations that could negatively impact the customer, maintainability, and usability. Aug 14, 2003 a map of the states and provinces affected by the w. We are responsible for the great east coast blackout of 2003. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge by jeremy johnson and alex lefebvre 20 august 2003 the blackout that began last thursday, cutting.
The overlooked costs of insufficient software design and testing. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. Is it weird that i would absolutely love another one of those. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later.
The relevant root cause information is included below. The northeast blackout of 2003 light pollution cloudy nights. Jan 28, 2015 its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark duration. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. Jan 27, 2015 an analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003.
Well, the aging utility grid, overgrown trees and the software of firstenergy corp. May 29, 2017 ali ebnenasir is working to prevent another northeast blackout. New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown trees and shut downa fault, as its known in. 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.
The cto of omnipod, a communications services provider based in. The outage affected an area with an estimated 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts mw of electric load in the states of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, new york, vermont, massachusetts, connect. Taking after are 6 famous software disasters in as beneath. Pdf importance of software testing in the process of. 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. Importance of qa in software development projects opensense. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Northeast blackout 2003 uss yorktown incapacitated 1997. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden.
It is the process of verification and validation of software service or application by checking whether it is. Worker and kids in brooklyn juvenile detention center test positive for coronavirus at alarming rate. Northeast blackout of 2003 while this is a textbook example of the domino effect because many separate problems lead to this disaster, ultimately, a bug in the power plants software prevented the electric grid operators from responding in a timely manner. 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. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug.
Hes creating and testing new design methods for more dependable software in the presence of unanticipated environmental and internal faults. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. Business continuity lessons from the blackout of 2003 cio. 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. Our local newspaper is asking readers where they were during the east coast blackout of 20. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid.
By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. However, as it turned out, the cause of the great 2003 northeast blackout was anything but sinister. A more detailed look showed the bug to be what is known as a race. Apr 01, 2003 another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. 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. The report makes clear that this blackout could have been prevented and that immediate actions must be taken in both the united states and canada to ensure that our electric system is more reliable.
The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. The map shows an entire state or province as red, when in some cases only a small portion e. Jun 29, 2019 the remaining 70% is the core development, implementation of technical knowhow and the remaining 20% is the part where the bugs are fixed, issues are identified for further testing. The power outage that left 50 million wo electricity retro report the new york times duration. Its been a decade since the great northeast blackout cut power to over 45 million people across the northeastern and midwestern united states and 10 million people in ontario, canada.
Canada power system outage task force final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united states and canada. On august 14, 2003, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and ontario, canada, experienced an electric power blackout. Using a 16,000bus model of the eastern interconnection, the sequence of disturbances that caused this event were. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003. Software testing is the process to check whether the software is defectfree or not. The overlooked costs of insufficient software design and. Northeast blackout leaves 50m people without power, august 14, 2003. What software does or doesnt do is critical, ebnenasir explains.
Learn how free tools can support your cybersecurity efforts. Gamasutra importance of quality assurance in the testing. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Cleveland, ohio in the space of just a few hours on the hot, humid afternoon of aug. Kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003. Northeast blackout of 2003first energy outage reports. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. On august 14, 2003, more than 50 million people in the united states and canada were left in the dark thanks to one of the most widespread. Tests run during fes afterthefact analysis of the alarm. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. As a matter of fact, programming bugs can irritate, however, the defective programming can likewise be costly, humiliating, ruinous and savage. Coauthor paul hines, now assistant professor of engineering at the university of vermont in. Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. 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.
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