The most dangerous software bugs ever: deaths and explosions
Most software errors only make operation a little more difficult - otherwise everything is fine. But there have also been violent bugs that have put millions of people in serious danger and even killed some. Because people sometimes make serious mistakes ...
1. Dead and seriously injured: Software error with the Therac-25
- The Therac-25 particle accelerator was a really big thing in the 1980s. The Canadian government had it developed for the radiation therapy of cancer patients.
- The device could irradiate tumors that were deep in the body. A lot of energy was bundled with a lead plate. It was fatal that in some cases the device worked even when there was no lead plate at all.
- The patients received a dose that was more than 100 times stronger. Three died, and at least three others have been severely disabled since then.
2. The WOW Blood Disease
- WOW gamers were looking forward to Patch 1.7 in 2005, but got an almost invincible boss.
- The opponent had the "Corrupted Blood" weakness spell, which meant that he took damage points from every player around him every second. But that's not all: this disease would be passed on via blood, so that the players would also infect each other.
- In the end, almost everyone who gambled on the servers with the new patch died. Only a few players survived. There was heavy criticism of the programmers on the WOW forums.
3. Software bug paralyzes warships
- In 1997, a fatal software bug caused the warship USS Yorktown to become simply unable to maneuver. Fortunately, the one billion dollar ship was only practicing when the error occurred. The crew usually has over 350 members.
- The system indicated that a ventilation valve was said to be open. When the officer tried to change the wrong value in the system, the entire propulsion system failed and the network on the ship collapsed.
- The USS Yorktown was dragged back into the harbor after hours and repaired there.
4. Gas explosion after software failure
A software bug was responsible for one of the largest explosions in the world:
- An error had crept into the software for controlling the gas pipelines in Siberia in 1982. With fatal consequences: the software crashed and pipelines went up in flames.
- Behind it is one of the most exciting stories of the Cold War: the Soviet Union let the software be smuggled through Canada. But the USA got wind of it and so the CIA is said to have deliberately built the bug into the software.
5. Sony anti-piracy software
This software bug comes from a time when CDs were still being illegally burned and passed on:
- The music company Sony had secretly burned anti-piracy software on millions of music CDs. This ensured that users could not burn the CD as often as they wanted. On the CD itself, Sony makes no mention of that.
- But the biggest problem was that the software made the computer unstable and vulnerable to hacking. Anyone who found and wanted to remove the hidden software also had to expect damage to the operating system.
- Sony ended up paying a fine of more than half a million dollars and reimbursing users up to $ 175 for removing the malware.
6. Millennium bug: what happens in 2000?
- On New Year's Eve 1999, a question among scientists, computer scientists and even the army caused huge concerns: will technology be able to cope with the leap in the year to 2000? Experts have long warned that technology would fail due to a bug on January 1, 2000 - chaos and civil war were the consequences. There would be no more petrol, the telephone networks would collapse and nuclear power plants would melt. The British Army was on alert on New Year's Eve 1999.
- In the end nothing happened - many believe today. Even if there was no chaos, the switch to 2, 000 billion euros caused damage. However, IT companies had fixed all software bugs months ago so that computer systems and networks automatically switch to 1.1.2000.
- Nevertheless, there were always effects: In March, drivers in the United States received a bill for vehicle tax for the past 100 years. Proud $ 760, 000.
7. The year 2038 problem
The next software problem is already waiting for us: in 2038. Because on January 19, 2038 at 3:14 a.m. and 8 seconds there could be a problem that outshines all previous software bugs. It affects almost all computers:
- Many operating systems have a counter to determine the date and time - especially Unix-based operating systems. The computer counts and counts, but at some point the counter is full. That will be the case on January 19, 2038. Then the counter jumps from the number "111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 11112" to this number "000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 00002".
- The problem: If you convert the new number into a date, December 13, 1901 comes out at 8:45:52 p.m. All computers with Unix (especially Linux and Mac OS X) therefore need an update. Otherwise, PCs in hospitals, city administrations and the police suddenly found themselves again in 1901 - with devastating consequences.
In the next article we will show you the 5 most dangerous viruses of all time.