A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to lunch. Unpruned trees in ohio affected the power lines and the distribution of electricity. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. The northeast blackout of 2003 is the second most widespread power outage in history. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. 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 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. 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.
New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. Rm, northeast blackout of 2003 northeast blackout of 2003, uncontroversially moved, 28 september 2011, request. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a reallife event. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown trees and shut downa fault, as its known in. Blackout hits northeast united states a major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003.
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. A fact from this article was featured on wikipedias main page in the on this day section on august 14, 2004 and august 14, 2005. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. Wikiproject energy rated cclass, midimportance this article is within the scope of wikiproject energy, a collaborative effort to improve the. About eight weeks after the blackout, the bug was unmasked as a particularly. The power outage that left 50 million wo electricity retro report the new york times duration. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech.
Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. First and foremost, compliance with reliability rules. A software bug in the alarm system of firstenergy, a power company located in ohio, was to blame for the blackout.
Software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. The blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohio. The blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. 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 blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software. At this writing, it appears that the 2003 blackout started in facilities owned and operated by firstenergy. Software bug contributed to blackout securityfocus.
Even if the tripped lines and firstenergys failure to detect and report them prove to be 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. The bug in ge energys xa21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted by ge and. Software bug contributed to blackout it failures in the great us blackout sparks over us power grid cybersecurity ncsp drafts secure code guidelines cyber security alliance sets sights on. 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. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american.
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