APRIL 1989

Abstract

Publisher SummaryThis chapter discusses the April 1989 incidents of breakdowns in computer security. Experts investigating the Exxon Valdez oil disaster off Alaska were trying to find out exactly when the computerized auto-pilot system was switched off. One theory that was put forward is that the auto-pilot had not been shut down and the crew's first attempts to take avoiding action were overruled by the system. When computers are placed in charge of a real-time control system, the program specification needs to be extremely detailed and must take into consideration every possible scenario. Another example of computer programming acting in a detrimental manner is the automated selling at trigger points of stocks and shares, which can lead to major market crashes. In another incident, the Companies Registration Office in Cardiff decided to double the resources reserved for computer back-up in case of disaster. They have suffered many computing breakdowns. Of these, four had been because of mainframe crashes, two were because of loss of power and there were operating systems problems in two other instances. The remaining 31 instances were communications problems.