Incident: Zoom Video-Conferencing App Partial Failure Impacts Global Users.

Published Date: 2020-08-25

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident with Zoom occurred on an unspecified Monday as per the article [Article 103565]. 2. The article was published on 2020-08-25. 3. Estimating from the article, the software failure incident with Zoom likely happened in August 2020.
System 1. Zoom video-conferencing app [103565]
Responsible Organization 1. Zoom Video Communications [103565]
Impacted Organization 1. Thousands of people in the US, UK, and across the world were unable to connect to work meetings or classes due to the Zoom software failure incident [Article 103565].
Software Causes 1. The software cause of the failure incident with Zoom was a partial failure that left users unable to start and join Zoom meetings and webinars, indicating a technical issue within the software itself [103565].
Non-software Causes 1. Increased usage during the pandemic: The heightened use of Zoom's video meeting software during the pandemic led to the failure incident, with more than 300 million participants in April [103565]. 2. Security, reliability, and privacy problems: Zoom had been facing issues related to security, reliability, and privacy, which were exacerbated by the surge in new customers during the pandemic [103565].
Impacts 1. Thousands of people in the US, UK, and across the world were unable to connect to work meetings or classes due to the Zoom software failure incident [Article 103565]. 2. More than 15,000 users reported incidents with Zoom on the outage tracking website Downdetector [Article 103565]. 3. The software failure incident affected mainly the east coast of the US and parts of Europe [Article 103565].
Preventions 1. Implementing more robust testing procedures to catch potential issues before they impact users [103565]. 2. Investing in additional server capacity to handle the increased demand during peak times [103565]. 3. Conducting regular security audits and updates to address any vulnerabilities that could lead to outages [103565].
Fixes 1. Deploying a fix across the cloud to restore service for users [Article 103565] 2. Rolling out the fix to complete the resolution for any users still impacted [Article 103565]
References 1. Zoom Video Communications website [Article 103565] 2. Outage tracking website Downdetector [Article 103565] 3. Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets commentator at retail investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown [Article 103565]

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 Zoom, the video-conferencing app, had faced previous issues related to security, reliability, and privacy problems during the pandemic. Despite the founder and CEO introducing a 90-day plan to address these concerns, the recent outage incident indicates that problems persist within the organization [103565]. (b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization: There is no specific mention in the provided article about similar software failure incidents happening at other organizations or with their products and services.
Phase (Design/Operation) design, operation (a) The software failure incident with Zoom was related to the design phase, as it was caused by a problem that left users unable to start and join Zoom meetings and webinars. The company acknowledged the issue and mentioned deploying a fix across their cloud to resolve the problem introduced by the system development or updates [Article 103565]. (b) Additionally, the software failure incident with Zoom could also be attributed to the operation phase, as the outage affected users in the US, UK, and across the world, impacting their ability to connect to work meetings or classes. This indicates that the failure was also influenced by the operation or use of the system by the users [Article 103565].
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) within_system: The software failure incident with Zoom was due to internal factors within the system. The article mentions that Zoom suffered a partial failure that left users unable to start and join meetings and webinars, and the company was working on deploying a fix across their cloud to resolve the issue [Article 103565]. This indicates that the failure originated from within the Zoom system itself. (b) outside_system: The article does not provide specific information indicating that the software failure incident with Zoom was due to contributing factors originating from outside the system.
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions, human_actions (a) The software failure incident with Zoom was primarily due to non-human actions, specifically a partial failure in the app's functionality that left thousands of users unable to connect to work meetings or classes. The company acknowledged the issue and mentioned deploying a fix across their cloud to resolve the problem [Article 103565]. (b) While the software failure incident with Zoom was mainly attributed to non-human actions, there were mentions of human actions contributing to previous security, reliability, and privacy problems faced by the platform. The company's founder and CEO introduced a 90-day plan to address these concerns, indicating that human actions played a role in the past issues faced by Zoom [Article 103565].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident reported in the article was not attributed to hardware issues. It was primarily a software failure incident related to Zoom's video-conferencing app experiencing a partial failure that left thousands of users unable to connect to work meetings or classes. The company acknowledged the issue and mentioned deploying a fix across their cloud to resolve the problem [103565]. (b) The software failure incident was primarily due to contributing factors originating in the software itself. Zoom's video-conferencing app faced issues that prevented users from starting and joining meetings and webinars, as well as managing aspects of their accounts on the Zoom website. The company worked on resolving the issue and apologized for any inconvenience caused to users [103565].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident with Zoom does not appear to be malicious. The article mentions that the failure was a partial outage that left users unable to start or join meetings and webinars, impacting users in the US, UK, and across the world. Zoom's company statement and actions to deploy a fix indicate that the issue was not caused by malicious intent but rather a technical problem that needed resolution [103565].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) unknown (a) The software failure incident with Zoom was not explicitly attributed to poor decisions. However, the incident highlighted previous security, reliability, and privacy problems that the company had faced due to the increased usage of its platform during the pandemic. The article mentions that the company's founder introduced a 90-day plan to address privacy and security concerns, indicating a proactive response to previous issues [103565]. (b) The software failure incident with Zoom was not explicitly attributed to accidental decisions. The incident was described as a partial failure that left thousands of users unable to connect to work meetings or classes. The company acknowledged the issue and worked to deploy a fix to restore service for impacted users [103565].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident with Zoom was not explicitly attributed to development incompetence in the articles. The issues mentioned, such as security, reliability, and privacy problems, were acknowledged by the company's founder and CEO, Eric Yuan, who introduced a 90-day plan to address them. However, the specific failure incident reported in the article was related to users being unable to start and join Zoom meetings and webinars, which was addressed by deploying a fix across their cloud [Article 103565]. (b) The software failure incident with Zoom was described as a partial failure that left thousands of people in the US, UK, and across the world unable to connect to work meetings or classes. The company behind the app apologized to customers and mentioned that they were working hard to fix the problem. The issue was later resolved, and service was restored for some users, with the company continuing to roll out the fix for any users still impacted. The outage tracking website Downdetector showed more than 15,000 users reporting incidents with Zoom earlier on Monday, indicating an accidental failure rather than intentional [Article 103565].
Duration temporary (a) The software failure incident with Zoom was temporary. The article mentions that the issue had been resolved by the company later on Monday, indicating that it was not a permanent failure [103565].
Behaviour crash, omission, other (a) crash: The software failure incident in the article can be categorized as a crash. Zoom experienced a partial failure that left thousands of people unable to connect to work meetings or classes, indicating a loss of state and the system not performing its intended functions [Article 103565]. (b) omission: The incident can also be related to omission as users were unable to start and join Zoom meetings and webinars, signifying the system omitting to perform its intended functions at that instance [Article 103565]. (c) timing: There is no specific mention of timing-related issues in the article. (d) value: The failure incident does not seem to be related to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly. (e) byzantine: The incident does not align with a byzantine behavior where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. (f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be described as a partial failure that impacted users' ability to connect to meetings and webinars, leading to disruptions in service [Article 103565].

IoT System Layer

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

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence delay (a) death: People lost their lives due to the software failure (b) harm: People were physically harmed due to the software failure (c) basic: People's access to food or shelter was impacted because of the software failure (d) property: People's material goods, money, or data was impacted due to the software failure (e) delay: People had to postpone an activity due to the software failure (f) non-human: Non-human entities were impacted due to the software failure (g) no_consequence: There were no real observed consequences of the software failure (h) theoretical_consequence: There were potential consequences discussed of the software failure that did not occur (i) other: Was there consequence(s) of the software failure not described in the (a to h) options? What is the other consequence(s)? The consequence of the software failure incident reported in the articles was mainly related to delays in work meetings and classes due to users being unable to start and join Zoom meetings and webinars [103565]. The outage affected thousands of people in the US, UK, and across the world, impacting their ability to connect for work and educational purposes. The company behind Zoom apologized for the inconvenience caused and worked to resolve the issue promptly.
Domain information (a) The software failure incident reported in the news article [Article 103565] is related to the information industry. Zoom, the video-conferencing app, experienced a partial failure that affected thousands of people in the US, UK, and worldwide, making them unable to connect to work meetings or classes. The company behind Zoom, Zoom Video Communications, acknowledged the issue and worked to resolve it, highlighting the importance of the software in facilitating remote communication and information sharing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources

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