Most Catastrophic Computer Failures in History

Since the discovery of computers, our reliance on this revolutionary machine have always increased. Although computers do add a lot of ease to our lives, they do have some shortcomings. If there are insufficient failsafe measures in place, computer errors can lead to disasters. Following is a list of some famous catastrophes that were caused by computer failures.

STUXnet

STUXnet, discovered in 2010, is basically a malware. According to reports, it was a joint venture of American and Israeli scientists. It is believed that it was created as a cyber-weapon for targeting real-world mechanical systems. STUXnet is often regarded as the first known piece of malware intended to cause real-world, tangible damage.

It appears that the primary target of STUXnet was Iran’s nuclear program. The malware was simple enough to be put inside a USB drive but was devastating for the target. Between November 2009 and January 2010, this malware caused 1,000 nuclear centrifuges in the Iranian facility. STUXnet made forced changes in rotor speed of the weapons that simply tore them apart. It was one of the most planned computer failures of all times which dealt a serious blow to nuclear enrichment efficiency of Iran (about 30 percent).

WannaCry

Perhaps the largest ransomware attack in our history was caused by WannaCry in 2017. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts user data and the attacker then sets certain conditions to be met before decrypting the files. In this case, the attacker demanded money in exchange for handing the data back. The amount of ransom ranged between $300 and $600 (per computer).

Data was returned safely to those who paid the ransom. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service was the biggest victim of this attack. Large-scale computer failures jammed all the important machines (like MRI scanners and theater equipment) of the medical facility. Consequently, they had to turn away a lot of simple cases. According to an estimate, WannaCry made a humungous amount of $4 billion around the world.

Meltdown

All Intel CPUs released between 1995 and 2018 are plagued by a security vulnerability called “Meltdown”. It takes advantage of the modern CPU architecture which allows programs to see all the information being used by the processor while remaining off the radar for antivirus programs. If exploited, an attacker could easily see your sensitive information like usernames, passwords, and emails. Both Intel and Microsoft released security patches for the flaw. However, it resulted in a significant performance loss (5-30%) across different CPU models. No doubt, this caused vulnerabilities and computer failures on a massive scale.

Boeing 737 MAX

The Boeing 737 MAX is an upgraded version of the aging Boeing 737. Ever since its development in the 1960s, the 737 has been upgraded time and time again. The computer dependence of 737 MAX is substantially greater than any of the previous models. Rushed into development and production, the 737-MAX needed greater efficiency to keep its fuel costs as low as possible. For doing so, it needed larger engines that could not be traditionally mounted on its wings.

In order to avoid the possible costs of pilot retraining for the new design, Boeing added a new system called MCAS. It automatically causes the aircraft to pitch down in case the nose rose above a certain threshold. It was this computer failure that led to the crash of two 737 MAX flights in a matter of months. The Lion Air flight 610 crashed in October 2018 while a flight of the Ethiopian Airlines had the tragedy in March 2019. Following these incidents, the 737 MAX has been grounded and no passenger flights can use this aircraft anymore.

Ariane 5

A total of 20 European countries contributed to this class of heavy-lift rockets. Despite that, a catastrophic computer failure caused Ariane 5 to blow up in midair, on its maiden flight. The internal computers onboard Ariane 5 were the same as those on its predecessor. However, Ariane 5 could reach speeds much greater than that of Ariane 4. In just 37 seconds, Ariane 5 crossed the speed threshold that the older computers were able to handle. It set up a chain reaction of calculation errors that turned the rocket upside down and it exploded. As a result, the rocket and the payload were destroyed in midair. Having said that, it has been refined (and upgraded) many times after that and is still used today.