25 Terrifying Information Technology Horror Stories
Miscellaneous
A Halloween goody bag of IT mishaps.
Medicaid Meltdown: State of Maine
It was to have been $25 million well-spent to make Maine's Bureau of Medical Services a
leader in Medicaid claims processing. Instead, hundreds of thousands of claims were left in
limbo by a system riddled with flaws.
Recipients in need of care were shut out of doctors' offices. Some doctors and dentists,
saddled with piles of unpaid claims, were driven to the edge of bankruptcy. In fact, the system
that was supposed to be a shining example of modern health care left Maine the only state
unable to comply with HIPAA.
"By the first of March, it was clear that we were missing any sort of
basic management of this project and were in complete defensive mode." — Dick Thompson,
then-head of procurement for the state of Maine
Witty Worm: Be Afraid
A new infection appears, spreads like flu at a preschool, and then quickly evaporates. Panic,
right? Strangely, the Witty Worm struck computers just like that, but provoked barely a breath
of the usual fear mongering and teeth gnashing. This new breed of software intruder, however,
could be one of the most dangerous signs of Things To Come that we've
yet seen. Witty's numbers and methods weren't so scary. It attacked only 12,000 computers, used a
common vulnerability and arrived through a seldom necessary port. But the devil is in the details:
Witty was 100 percent effective and took down nearly every vulnerable machine on the Internet within
45 minutes. And the software applications it attacked were security programs. Investigators also
found that Witty was "professional grade" code—not script-kiddie cat scratchings. It infected
110 servers in its first 10 seconds, a sign of a premeditated attack, not random noodling. Witty
didn't pack much punch in its premiere, but the threat of a sequel should have us nervous.
"It didn't get as much publicity as it should have. People need to be concerned." —
Colleen Shannon, researcher at the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
Blue Screen of Death: Bill Gates
Three rules for life: 1) The kid's fever will be gone when you get to the doctor's office. 2)
The car won't make that funny noise when you arrive at the repair shop. 3) Software will always
crash in the middle of a demo. Microsoft's Bill Gates became
the most famous victim of rule No. 3 at the Comdex trade show in 1998.
During an attempted demo of the not-yet released Windows 98 operating system, the proceedings lurched
to a halt when the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" appeared after a co-demonstrator
plugged in a scanner to demonstrate Windows' "plug-and-play" (aka "plug-and-pray") capabilities.
Gates seemed to take the crash with good humor (no word on whether heads rolled backstage afterward).
And why not? Microsoft went on to sell more than 25 million Windows 98 licenses worldwide in the first
six months of the product's launch.
"That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet." — Microsoft CEO Bill Gates,
from the stage after the crash
Double Jeopardy: Consultants & Courtrooms
This film-noir drama of chicanery and failed software projects is a warning for any company
contemplating a large, complex software installation using consultants. The
10-year
nightmare of the Oklahoma City Water Trust shows just how easy it can be for these projects to
go horribly wrong and how bittersweet revenge can be when administered through the courts.
"What's that joke about computer salesmen and car salesmen? At least the car salesmen know when
they are lying?" — Ernie Aschermann, software salesman
Y2K: Apocalypse Never
Combine overhype with
adequate preparedness and you've got a recipe for...boredom. The Y2K Bug thesis stated that millions of computer systems, ill-designed
for the new millennium, would in theory lose their little minds on Jan. 1, 2000. If you believed the paranoia,
the event was going to plunge the world into a digital funk so deep that not even the combined efforts of Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver would save us. Stock markets would collapse, electricity would
cease, governments would fall, prices would go up at Wal-Mart. The newspapers were filled with stories of people
moving to rural safety, disconnecting themselves from the grid, arming up and otherwise preparing for the impending
Armageddon. Didn't happen. Thanks to coffee, overtime and some judicious, fear-inspired corporate wallet emptying,
IT professionals around the globe managed to patch nearly every critical system before the deadline. Sure,
there were some sporadic problems of the "broken slot machine" variety, but it was hardly time to lock
yourself in the basement.
"You'll soon be breathing a sigh of relief. Staff will be taking comp time, and vendors will be beating
down your door to discuss new projects. The Y2K problem will fade, no worse a memory than a major operating
system upgrade from the IBM System 360 to the System 370 was in the old days." — John Gantz, then-chief
research officer for IDC Research
"What did we miss? Nominate your own Worst IT Disaster by sending it to Chris Lindquist at CIO.com."
