ΟMost computer users are faced with a software error that can even lead to the loss of important data.
However, there are cases where computer systems did not function as it should and even lead to loss of human lives. The software, moreover, is written by people whenever the error factor can not be ruled out.
See cases where a software error has led or could have had disastrous consequences…
The near nuclear bane
An error in the software of the satellite warning system in the Soviet Union could probably lead to nuclear havoc!
On September 26's 1983, military Stanislav Petrov was in a secret sanctuary near Moscow, being responsible for overseeing the satellite-based alert system. Shortly after midnight, the system displayed a warning of the launch of 5 American intercontinental ballistic missiles! The anticipated reaction would be the counter-attack on the part of the Soviet Union with rocket launcher as well!
Petrov had to make a decision quickly. However, something seemed to be wrong: It was strange for America to attack with just 5 missiles… In addition, the ground radars did not detect anything (which could be explained by the fact that they "see" nothing beyond the horizon, due to the curvature of the Earth), while the satellite system had errors when it was first put into operation.
Petrov weighed the data, decided to reject the alarm as wrong, which proved to be true, as it later became known that the system "saw" the reflections of the sun over the clouds and interpreted them as a rocket launch. But the fact is that even though Petrov did not have the possibility of launching nuclear weapons, if he had chosen to alert his superiors and they perceived the threat as real, we would have been led to nuclear disaster!
Therac-25 - The killer of patients
Therac-25 was a medical device for radiotherapy, often used in cancer patients. It worked in two ways: either by sending a beam of electrons in small doses to the patient for a minimum of time, or the electron beam first passed through a metallic "target" that converted the beam into X-rays which then reached the patient.
In previous Therac models, for the second operation there were manual safety valves that controlled whether the metal "target" was indeed where it was supposed to be, or otherwise, high energy bundles would directly fall on the patient.
In Therac-25, the role of these valves was taking over software. However, an error occurred sometimes during the automatic checks. This resulted in the system collapsing, the metal "target" not moving in place and the patient "bombarded" with 100 power packs times as much as he would normally have to accept. This happened in 6 cases from 1985 to 1987, with 4 people finding death!
The failure of Patriot
During the American Desert Storm operation in Iraq, 1991, the US Army had developed a Patriot system as a defense against rival aircraft and missiles.
The anti-aircraft tracking system is based on the speed of the target and the time to predict where the target will be at any moment.
Unfortunately, the detection system had an error, which resulted in the internal "clock" showing a gradual deviation.
As long as the system was in operation, the "clock" was deregulated and deviated from the "real" time. In fact, the error was already known and was simply "corrected" by restarting the system.
But those who controlled the system on February 25 did not seem to know the error because they had let the system run for 100 hours.
When an Iraqi missile was fired at a military airport in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, it was detected by the Patriot system. However, the internal "clock" already had a deviation of 0,34 per minute.
When the next position of the rocket was calculated, the detection system was "looking" at an area of the sky about half a kilometer away from where the rocket was. As a result, he "assumed" that there was no threat and so the interception was canceled. The rocket hit its target, killing 28 soldiers and injuring 98 others.
The division with zero paralyzed a US fleet
One of the best known bugs in the programming universe is the division of any number with zero, which is impossible with simple mathematics and most software is designed to take such a scenario into account.
This notorious mistake, however, seems to have been ignored by USS Yorktown software designers on USS Yorktown. On 21 September 1997, Yorktown was left unpunished for almost 3 hours when a crew member typed a zero into the database control system, which was then used in a division to collapse the ship's propulsion system.
The software was installed under a program to limit the human factor to ship control. Fortunately, when the inconvenience happened, the USS Yorktown was maneuvering and was not in battle whenever such an event could be fatal.
The blackout that left in the dark 55 million people
One of the biggest blackout in history was 14 August 2003 in the northeastern US and Ontario, Canada and left in the dark 55 million people.
It all started when a power plant on the southern shores of Lake Erie, Ohio, was out, due to increased demand. This puts the rest of the electricity grid on the test. However, power transmission cables, when carrying a larger load, are heated and their construction materials are expanded. Thus, several lines were stuck on trees and caused damage, further exacerbating the energy system. The result was that the network would only share the 20% of the usual power.
The main cause of black-out challenge was a software problem in the First Energy Corporation's audit room in Ohio. Two parts of the system were found to "compete" for their own resources and were unable to solve the difference, which led the alarm system to freeze and stop giving notifications.
However, the system collapsed unnoticed, since there was no audible or visual alert in the control room. As a result, one did not know the need to redistribute the transmission system.
So what could have been a controllable local disruption has affected the whole network, resulting in several areas being out of power for days and causing problems for industries, utilities, telecommunications and transport. In fact, the blackout is believed to have helped 10 people lose their lives.
The Millennium
Y2K or the "Millennium Viola" became more widely known as the media circulated horror stories with dramatic scenarios that could take place.
This error had to do with the fact that in many computer systems, two digits were used for the date. For example "99" instead of "1999". This would mean that in 2000 it would look like "00", something that would probably "confuse" the computers, making them think it was 1900.
This would result in a catastrophe in those calculations that would include a range of years exceeding 2000. For example, someone born in 1920 and died in 2001 would appear to be -19 years old!
In order to address the problem, software companies were quick to upgrade their products, already controlled by banking systems, to hospital computers. In addition, in February of 99, the International Cooperation Center Y2K was established to help coordinate the work of governments and organizations before Millennium arrived.
Eventually, 2000 arrived without any notable incidents. But we still do not know for sure if this was due to the preparation that had been done or if the scripts that had been released to the press were just too much.
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