When Tech Fails

Who remembers Y2K?

The Y2K bug was a computer flaw, or bug, that may have caused problems when dealing with dates beyond December 31, 1999.

In the year 1999, computer programmers and users feared that their computers would stop working at the turn of the century. Everyone was being warned and told to shut down their machines so that their computers did not freak out when the clock changed to 12 AM on January 1st of 2000.

The fear was that when clocks struck midnight on January 1, 2000, affected computer systems, unsure of the year, would fail to operate and cause massive power outages, transportation systems to shut down, and banks to close.

The Y2K problem was not limited to computers running conventional software, however. Many devices containing computer chips, ranging from elevators to temperature-control systems in commercial buildings to medical equipment, were believed to be at risk, which necessitated the checking of these “embedded systems” for sensitivity to calendar dates.

In the United States, business and government technology teams worked feverishly with a goal of checking systems and fixing software before the end of December 1999.  

So, was the entire Y2K thing a massive failure or was it an amazing IT success??? Was the Y2K monster a big false alarm, or did we actually catch it and kill it before it could harm us all? 

An estimated $300 billion was spent (almost half in the United States) to upgrade computers and application programs to be Y2K-compliant. As the first day of January 2000 dawned and it became apparent that computerized systems were intact, reports of relief filled the news media. These were followed by accusations that the likely incidence of failure had been greatly exaggerated from the beginning. Those who had worked in Y2K-compliance efforts insisted that the threat had been real. They maintained that the continued viability of computerized systems was proof that the collective effort had succeeded. In following years, some analysts pointed out that programming upgrades that had been part of the Y2K-compliance campaign had improved computer systems and that the benefits of these improvements would continue to be seen for some time to come.

As you can assume, my muse for this Sunday Blog is CrowdStrike. 

A CrowdStrike update broke computers running Windows, causing them to crash and display the blue screen of death. Across industries, companies around the world haven’t been able to reboot their computers. 

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X, confirming the issue is not a cyberattack and was caused by a botched update.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Kurz wrote, adding that the issue has been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website,” he added. “We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

OK. Human Error. 

Anyone stuck at an airport, anyone locked out of their room at Disney, anyone who can't get money out of their bank, or buy gas, or basically 'function' probably won't care if this was a cyber attack, or the beginning of AI world domination, or just good ol' fashioned human error. 

If YOU are in IT, you are probably running on 'no sleep' right now. But even if you are NOT in IT, you too could be on 'no sleep' if your business, your school, your LIFE has been impacted by this human error. 

It was 8,969 days ago - December 31st, 1999 - that we all went to bed holding our collective breath. I don't think ANYONE wanted to be flying in an airplane on New Year's Eve 1999. I'm 63 so I remember Y2K very vividly. I remember the years running up to 12/31/1999 and how many IT companies and professionals were all about Y2K, Y2K, Y2K!!!

The CrowdStrike human error is being fixed - manually - by humans. Maybe by the time you read this blog, the manual fix was performed and the crisis was resolved. 

Y2K. CrowdStrike. What's next? What will be the.....

ThirdStrike  {I wonder if I should trademark that....} 

Speaking of humans... you should www.JoinNYDLA.org as we have lots of really (really) smart ones... including thousands of old IT folk... who were around during Y2K. They know a thing or two, because they have seen a thing or two....

www.JoinNYDLA.org