The Unsustainable Fragility of the Digital, and What to Do About It
2017; Springer Nature (Netherlands); Volume: 30; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1007/s13347-017-0280-4
ISSN2210-5441
Autores Tópico(s)Big Data and Business Intelligence
ResumoAn IT meltdown plunged into chaos British Airways' flights at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.More than 75,000 passengers, including your philosopher, were grounded, during the busy May Bank Holiday weekend.Apparently, the cause was a mere inadvertent cutting of power, followed by an unauthorised and incorrect restoration.It took three days to get back to normal.Discomfort and damage to passengers were incalculable.Costs were significant: £58 million in compensation.The loss of reputation was serious, especially in a highly competitive environment, with limited margins, such as that of airlines.The system crashed again on the 2nd of August, this time only temporarily.Sunday, 28th of May 2017.First assessment of the damage caused by WannaCry.The malware hit Microsoft Windows systems, encrypting infected computer files and then asking for a ransom to decrypt them.This time your philosopher was safe, probably because he uses Apple systems.It is estimated that, at that date, WannaCry had already infected more than 230,000 computers (they will soon become 300,000) in 150 countries.It was one of the largest computer infections of all time.Among the affected organisations were Deutsche Bahn, FedEx, Telefónica, Renault, the Russian Ministry of Interior, and many others.In England, the National Health System (NHS) was forced to cancel appointments and send patients home.For a few days, we went back to paper and pen.Luckily, there were no casualties.Two disasters.But also two good examples of how fragile the digital is, how wide and risky our dependence on it is becoming, and how systemic the problems caused by digital failures can be.Fragility is not necessarily a bad feature all the time.It can also be a positive, even precious, quality, if, for example, we are talking about the delicacy of a crystal vase.But it becomes a problem when it denotes the unreliability of a system, and the more so the more we depend on it.So when the system in question is that digital sofa on which
Referência(s)