Computer gremlins, confusion preceded big blackout

The Globe and Mail ^ | 9/4/03 | Associated Press

[doc30]

Didn't see this posted yet. Does this sound like it might be a terrorist cyber attack after all and not a transmission line failure?

[meg70]

The folks in London are having the same problems explaining the blackout.

[SengirV]

What are the chances these people were staring at a BSOD? Kind of like when that NUCLEAR FREEKIN DESTROYER that had to get a tow back to port because it's Microsoft Windows NT system blew chunks?

NO it does not sound like a terrorist cyber attack, it sounds like an inside M$ job. Purely unintentional, but happened none the less.

[RoseofTexas]

My son who is a puter nerd told me that this was probably a cyber attack also! Blackouts in both London and the US are tooooo much of a coincident!!

[BureaucratusMaximus]

NO it does not sound like a terrorist cyber attack, it sounds like an inside M$ job. Purely unintentional, but happened none the less.

Does every thread that has something even remotely to do with computers have to turn into a Microsoft bashing thread? Only the third post...I congratulate you!

[r9etb]

Didn't see this posted yet. Does this sound like it might be a terrorist cyber attack after all and not a transmission line failure?

Nope. It sounds like a bunch of little problems cascading into a big problem -- which has always been the most likely explanation.

[org.whodat]

Does this sound like it might be a terrorist cyber attack after all and not a transmission line failure?

No, not unless you have a tin foil hat. This is the standard blame human error on the computer. A plant operator in Ohio motorized a plant, which caused the shut down. Period . I was an Air Force power plant operator once upon a time, and a simple power plant motorization is the only thing that can cause this type of failure.

[EggsAckley]

I agree. This whole thing smells. Does this co-incide with the blaster virus? I got hit by that on my brand new computer the minute I went on-line. I think that was about a week after the outage, but the virus had been out there for a while before I got hit. Had an old Win98 which was immune to blaster.

[r9etb]

Blackouts in both London and the US are tooooo much of a coincident!!

Not at all. It was hot in London, and it was hot on the East Coast. In both caes, heat has the same effect: high demand on the power grid (to run things air conditioners). A side effect of high demand is that a failure can propagate throughout the system.

[b4its2late]

[meyer]

Nope. It sounds like a bunch of little problems cascading into a big problem -- which has always been the most likely explanation.

Pretty much the culmination of several smaller problems coupled with a lack of response.

Here is another thread where the computer issue is discussed. I am famaliar with that computer, having worked in that very control room in the past.

[freeperfromnj]

Blackouts in both London and the US are tooooo much of a coincident!!

I agree. IMO this is not one of those coincidences you simply accept and move on from. The last time they raised the alert status to high a couple of months ago, a warning of a possible attack on the power grids and 911 calling system was high on the list put out by the feds.

[menotyu]

I'm with you . When was the last time New York and London had a major blackout within a week of each other? How about a month? How about a year? Too much of a Coincidence for me.

[r9etb]

That's a very informative thread. I recommend that folks hop over there to check it out.

[haywoodwebb]

I knew Miles Davis was behind this!

[meyer]

Not at all. It was hot in London, and it was hot on the East Coast. In both caes, heat has the same effect: high demand on the power grid (to run things air conditioners). A side effect of high demand is that a failure can propagate throughout the system.

This is particularly true when economic considerations are given strong precident over reliability considerations. There's plenty of financial reward for marketers to "overbook" the system. There's financial rewards for the owners of transmission lines to "overbook" the system. But, there's no penalty (yet) for "overbooking" the system to the detriment of having adequate contingencies.

The system operators, incidentally, don't get the financial rewards when luck is on their side, but they will catch holy-heck when the system collapses. I have yet to see any mention of the role of the common-carrier model in this scenario.

[dalebert]

It does sound like an attack.

[Alouette]

What are the chances these people were staring at a BSOD?

Doesn't sound like BSOD. More likely their communications channels were knocked offline.

[SamAdams76]

Sounds like it might be a good idea to stock up on batteries and non-perishables the night of Sept. 10.

[Tacis]

As I understand it, one power company, Central Vermont, did not go out in the blackout. They seem to claim that their people and machines functioned as planned and they were OK. Any confirmation? Further detail?