Incident: Bank's Software Glitch Displays Trillions in Debt to Customers

Published Date: 2015-11-27

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident at First Hawaiian Bank happened on Tuesday, as mentioned in the article [53729]. 2. Published on 2015-11-27 08:00:00+00:00. 3. The incident occurred on Tuesday, which was the day before the article was published, so the estimated date of the incident would be November 24, 2015.
System 1. Online banking system of First Hawaiian Bank [53729]
Responsible Organization 1. First Hawaiian Bank [53729]
Impacted Organization 1. Customers of First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii - Angela Kwong and George White were impacted by the software glitch that showed them being billions or trillions of dollars in debt [53729].
Software Causes 1. The software glitch at First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii that caused customers to see erroneous balances in the billions and trillions was a key software cause of the failure incident [53729].
Non-software Causes 1. Human error in inputting or processing transactions, leading to incorrect charges being reflected in customer accounts [53729]. 2. Lack of immediate customer support or communication from the bank when customers reported the issue, causing frustration and confusion [53729].
Impacts 1. Some customers of First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii saw their accounts showing billions, sometimes trillions, in debt due to the software glitch [53729]. 2. Customers like Angela Kwong and George White were affected by the glitch, with Kwong being overdrawn by $1.4 trillion and White seeing charges of $710 billion on their accounts [53729]. 3. Customers experienced frustration and worry, especially with concerns about cybercrime and the impact on their credit ratings and livelihoods [53729]. 4. The glitch caused inconvenience and confusion for customers who had to deal with erroneous account balances and were unable to get immediate assistance due to the customer service line being unresponsive [53729].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough software testing procedures to catch glitches before they impact customers [53729]. 2. Conducting regular maintenance and updates on the banking software to prevent unexpected issues [53729]. 3. Enhancing customer service protocols to handle such incidents promptly and effectively [53729].
Fixes 1. Implementing thorough testing procedures to catch and prevent such glitches in the future [53729]. 2. Conducting a comprehensive review of the software code to identify and rectify the root cause of the glitch [53729]. 3. Enhancing customer service protocols to ensure prompt and effective communication with affected customers in case of similar incidents [53729].
References 1. Customers of First Hawaiian Bank, such as Angela Kwong and George White [53729]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring unknown (a) The software failure incident of customers seeing inflated debt amounts due to a glitch in the bank's system happened at First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii [53729]. This incident was specific to First Hawaiian Bank and there is no mention of a similar incident happening again within the same organization. (b) There is no information in the provided article about a similar incident happening at other organizations or with their products and services.
Phase (Design/Operation) design (a) The software failure incident in the article was related to the design phase. The glitch that occurred at First Hawaiian Bank, leading to customers seeing erroneous and extremely high debt amounts in their online accounts, was attributed to a software glitch in the online banking environment. This glitch was a result of a design flaw or issue in the system development or system updates, causing the incorrect display of balances to customers. The bank clarified that the problem was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment and did not impact actual customer balances or information [Article 53729]. (b) The software failure incident was not specifically attributed to the operation phase or misuse of the system in the articles provided.
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) The software failure incident at First Hawaiian Bank was within the system. The glitch causing customers to see inflated balances of billions or trillions of dollars originated from within the bank's software. The bank confirmed that the problem was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment and did not affect actual customer information or balances [53729].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions, human_actions (a) The software failure incident at First Hawaiian Bank was primarily due to non-human actions, specifically a software glitch. The glitch caused some customers to see inflated and erroneous account balances, with some showing debts in the billions or trillions of dollars. The bank confirmed that the issue was limited to the online banking environment and did not impact actual customer account information or balances [53729]. (b) Human actions were involved in responding to the incident rather than causing it. Customers affected by the glitch reached out to the bank's customer service, but one customer mentioned that the worker she spoke to said nothing could be done initially. However, the bank quickly resolved the problem within minutes of discovering the glitch, indicating a prompt human response to the non-human software failure [53729].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident in Article 53729 was not attributed to hardware issues but rather to a software glitch. The glitch caused some customers of First Hawaiian Bank to see erroneous and extremely high debt amounts when they logged into their accounts. The bank clarified that the problem was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment and did not affect actual customer information or balances. The incident was quickly resolved by the bank's team after discovery, indicating that the root cause was related to software rather than hardware [53729].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident described in Article 53729 was non-malicious. The incident was attributed to a software glitch at First Hawaiian Bank, which caused some customers to see inflated and erroneous balances in their online banking accounts. The bank clarified that the issue was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment and did not impact actual customer balances or information. The glitch was promptly resolved by the bank within minutes of discovery, indicating that there was no malicious intent behind the failure [53729].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) accidental_decisions (a) The software failure incident at First Hawaiian Bank was not due to poor decisions but rather an accidental glitch in the system. The bank stated that the problem was resolved within minutes of discovery and that no actual customer information or balances were affected. The glitch was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment, indicating that it was not a result of poor decisions but rather an unintended technical issue [53729].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 53729 was not attributed to development incompetence. The incident was described as a software glitch at First Hawaiian Bank that caused some customers to see erroneous and extremely high charges in their online banking accounts. The bank quickly resolved the issue, and it was clarified that no actual customer information or balances were affected by the glitch. (b) The software failure incident in Article 53729 was categorized as accidental. The glitch that led to customers seeing inflated charges in their accounts was described as a software issue that occurred unexpectedly. The bank stated that the problem was resolved within minutes of discovery and that it was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment, with no impact on actual customer balances or information.
Duration temporary From the provided article [53729], it is evident that the software failure incident related to the bank's glitch at First Hawaiian Bank was temporary. The incident was quickly identified and resolved within minutes of discovery. The bank confirmed that no actual customer information or balances were affected, and the problem was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment. This indicates that the glitch was a temporary issue caused by specific circumstances rather than a permanent failure affecting all aspects of the system.
Behaviour crash, value, other (a) crash: The software failure incident in the article can be categorized as a crash. Customers of First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii experienced a glitch where they logged into their accounts to see themselves in debt by billions or trillions of dollars. The system crashed in a way that displayed incorrect and inflated balances to the customers, causing confusion and concern. However, the bank stated that the glitch was limited to the view shown in the online banking environment and did not affect actual customer balances [53729]. (b) omission: There is no specific mention of the software failure incident being related to omission in the articles. (c) timing: The software failure incident does not align with a timing failure as the issue was not about the system performing its intended functions too late or too early. (d) value: The software failure incident can be linked to a value failure. The system displayed incorrect and inflated balances to customers, showing them being overdrawn by trillions of dollars, which is clearly incorrect and not the intended function of the software [53729]. (e) byzantine: The software failure incident does not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. (f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be categorized as a display anomaly. The system showed massively incorrect numbers to customers, causing confusion and concern, but the bank clarified that the glitch was limited to the online banking view and did not impact actual customer balances [53729].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence property (d) property: People's material goods, money, or data was impacted due to the software failure The software glitch at First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii led to some customers seeing their accounts showing charges of billions, sometimes trillions of dollars, causing confusion and concern. For example, Angela Kwong was shocked to find herself overdrawn by $1.4 trillion after being hit with charges of $710 billion. Similarly, George White also logged in to see charges of $710 billion on his account. These inflated numbers on the bank statements caused worry and frustration among the affected customers, highlighting the impact on people's financial data and accounts [53729].
Domain finance (a) The failed system was related to the finance industry, specifically affecting customers of First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii. The software glitch caused some customers to see erroneous and inflated balances, with individuals like Angela Kwong and George White being shown debts in the billions and trillions of dollars [Article 53729].

Sources

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