Incident: Swisscom Landline Services Disrupted by Supplier Software Errors.

Published Date: 2018-01-17

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident with Swisscom's landline services happened last week, as mentioned in the article. 2. Published on 2018-01-17. 3. The software failure incident with Swisscom's landline services occurred in the first week of January 2018.
System The system that failed in the software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was the landline services provided by Swisscom. Specifically, the failure was attributed to errors in a supplier's software, although the supplier was not named in the article [67527]. Therefore, the system that failed was: 1. Swisscom's landline services
Responsible Organization 1. The supplier's software was responsible for causing the software failure incident at Swisscom [67527].
Impacted Organization 1. Swisscom's landline services customers, including thousands of business customers, were impacted by the software failure incident [67527].
Software Causes 1. Errors in the supplier's software [67527]
Non-software Causes 1. The failure incident was caused by errors in a supplier's software, as stated by Swisscom in a subsequent statement [67527].
Impacts 1. Thousands of business customers were unable to make or receive calls due to errors in a supplier's software, leading to disruptions in Swisscom's landline services [67527]. 2. During the disruptions, calls came through but either the recipient or the caller could not hear the other party, and in other instances, phones did not work at all, causing inconvenience to the customers [67527].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough supplier software testing before deployment to identify and rectify potential errors [67527]. 2. Conducting regular audits and quality checks on the supplier software to catch any issues early on [67527]. 3. Establishing clear communication channels and protocols with the software supplier to promptly address any identified errors or vulnerabilities [67527].
Fixes 1. Conducting a thorough review and update of the supplier's software to address the errors identified [67527].
References 1. Swisscom spokesperson 2. Swisscom's subsequent statement 3. Supplier of the software 4. Potential financial claims from customers 5. Reuters (as the publisher of the article) [67527]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring one_organization (a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization: The article mentions that Swisscom experienced disruptions in their landline services due to errors in a supplier's software. This incident affected thousands of business customers, with issues such as calls not going through or parties not being able to hear each other. Swisscom stated that the errors were in the supplier software, indicating a recurring issue with the software provided by the supplier [67527].
Phase (Design/Operation) design (a) The software failure incident in the article was attributed to errors in the supplier's software, indicating a failure in the design phase where contributing factors introduced by the system development or updates led to disruptions in Swisscom's landline services [67527]. (b) The article does not provide specific information indicating that the software failure incident was due to factors introduced by the operation or misuse of the system.
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was within_system. The article mentions that Swisscom's landline services were disrupted due to errors in a supplier's software. Swisscom stated that the issues were caused by "errors in the supplier software," indicating that the failure originated from within the system itself [67527].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident in the article was attributed to errors in the supplier's software, indicating a failure due to non-human actions [67527].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident in the article was attributed to errors in the supplier's software, indicating that the contributing factors originated in the software itself. Swisscom mentioned that there were "errors in the supplier software" which led to disruptions in their landline services [67527].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was non-malicious. The disruptions in Swisscom's landline services were attributed to errors in the supplier's software, as mentioned in the article. The errors were not caused by malicious intent but rather by issues within the software provided by the supplier [67527].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) accidental_decisions (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was not explicitly attributed to poor decisions. Instead, it was mentioned that the disruptions in Swisscom's landline services were caused by errors in a supplier's software. The article highlighted that the supplier's software had confirmed the error, indicating that the failure was due to issues within the supplier's software rather than poor decisions [67527].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) development_incompetence (a) The software failure incident reported in the article was attributed to errors in the supplier's software, indicating a failure due to development incompetence. Swisscom mentioned that the disruptions in their landline services were caused by errors in the supplier software, without naming the supplier responsible for the issue [67527]. This points towards a failure related to the competence of the software development process or the organization responsible for the software's creation.
Duration temporary The software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was temporary. The article mentions that Swisscom's landline services were disrupted for a week but were back to normal after that period. It states that customers had been able to use the service since Monday afternoon, and the situation remained stable on Tuesday. This indicates that the disruption was not permanent but rather temporary [67527].
Behaviour omission, value, other (a) crash: The software failure incident in the article is not described as a crash where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions [67527]. (b) omission: The software failure incident in the article led to thousands of business customers being unable to make or receive calls, indicating an omission in performing its intended functions [67527]. (c) timing: The article does not mention the software failure incident being related to the system performing its intended functions too late or too early [67527]. (d) value: The software failure incident in the article is described as errors in the supplier's software, leading to phones not working at all or calls coming through but the parties not being able to hear each other, indicating a failure in performing its intended functions correctly [67527]. (e) byzantine: The article does not mention the software failure incident being related to the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions [67527]. (f) other: The software failure incident in the article is related to errors in the supplier's software, causing disruptions in Swisscom's landline services, affecting thousands of business customers [67527].

IoT System Layer

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

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence property, delay, theoretical_consequence The consequence of the software failure incident reported in Article 67527 was primarily related to property. The software failure in Swisscom's landline services resulted in thousands of business customers being unable to make or receive calls due to errors in a supplier's software. This impacted the customers' ability to conduct business and communicate effectively, potentially leading to financial losses or disruptions in their operations [67527].
Domain information (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 67527 affected Swisscom's landline services, which are crucial for communication and the exchange of information for both individuals and businesses [67527].

Sources

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