| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization:
The article mentions that for the second time in 10 days, a giant chunk of the internet briefly broke due to an outage at a company most people have probably never heard of. This incident was similar to another recent outage caused by a similar company called Fastly [Article 115237].
(b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization:
The article highlights that the recent outage at Akamai Technologies was nearly identical to another outage caused by Fastly, which affected major sites including Reddit, CNN, Amazon, and a UK government website. This indicates that similar incidents have occurred at multiple organizations relying on these cloud service providers [Article 115237]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase can be seen in the article where it mentions that Fastly experienced an outage due to a software bug that appeared as part of a normal update, which briefly took out around 85% of the company's network [115237]. This indicates that the failure was due to contributing factors introduced during system development or system updates.
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase is evident in the article where Akamai mentioned that around 500 of its customers were affected by an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused the outage [115237]. This points to a failure due to contributing factors introduced by the operation of the system. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) within_system: The software failure incidents related to Fastly and Akamai were primarily caused by internal factors within the systems. Fastly experienced an outage due to a software bug that appeared as part of a normal update, temporarily taking out around 85% of the company's network [115237]. Similarly, Akamai faced an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused its outage, affecting around 500 of its customers [115237].
(b) outside_system: The articles do not provide specific information about the software failure incidents being caused by contributing factors originating from outside the system. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident occurring due to non-human actions:
The software failure incidents related to the outages at Fastly and Akamai were primarily caused by non-human actions. In Fastly's case, a software bug that appeared as part of a normal update briefly took out around 85% of the company's network [115237]. Similarly, Akamai mentioned that around 500 of its customers were affected by an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused its outage [115237].
(b) The software failure incident occurring due to human actions:
There is no specific mention in the articles about the software failure incidents at Fastly and Akamai being directly caused by human actions. The incidents were attributed to software bugs and issues with DDOS mitigation software, which are non-human factors [115237]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incidents reported in the articles are primarily due to contributing factors that originate in software. For example, the outage at Akamai was caused by an issue with its DDOS mitigation software [115237]. Similarly, Fastly experienced a software bug that took out a significant portion of its network [115237]. These incidents highlight how software issues can lead to widespread outages affecting various websites and services relying on these providers. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The articles discuss the possibility of malicious attacks on content delivery networks (CDNs) like Fastly and Akamai. These attacks could be orchestrated by cybercriminals or government actors targeting the CDNs, which are considered as potential centralized points on the internet vulnerable to such attacks [115237].
(b) On the non-malicious side, the articles mention that the recent outages at Fastly and Akamai were caused by software bugs in their systems. Fastly experienced an outage due to a software bug that appeared during a normal update, affecting around 85% of its network. Akamai, on the other hand, had an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused its outage, affecting around 500 of its customers [115237]. These incidents highlight how software failures can occur due to unintentional factors within the systems. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
accidental_decisions |
(a) The articles do not specifically mention the software failure incident being related to poor decisions. However, they highlight the risks associated with the concentration in the CDN space, where a small number of major providers could become big targets for attacks. This concentration raises concerns about the potential vulnerabilities and risks to the internet's digital infrastructure [115237].
(b) The software failure incidents discussed in the articles were attributed to software bugs in the case of Fastly and Akamai. Fastly experienced a software bug that appeared as part of a normal update, briefly taking out around 85% of the company's network. Akamai, on the other hand, had an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused its outage affecting around 500 of its customers. These incidents were described as accidental decisions or mistakes that led to the failures [115237]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
accidental |
(a) The software failure incidents related to the outages at Fastly and Akamai were not attributed to development incompetence but rather to software bugs that occurred during normal updates. Fastly experienced a software bug that briefly took out around 85% of its network, while Akamai had an issue with its DDOS mitigation software that caused its outage [115237].
(b) The software failure incidents at Fastly and Akamai were accidental in nature. Fastly's software bug appeared as part of a normal update, and Akamai's issue with its DDOS mitigation software was accidental, leading to the outages experienced by their customers [115237]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident discussed in the articles is categorized as temporary. Both the Fastly and Akamai outages were short-lived, with Fastly restoring its service quickly and Akamai resolving the issue within four hours. These incidents were caused by specific contributing factors such as a software bug in Fastly's case and an issue with Akamai's DDOS mitigation software. The articles emphasize that while occasional failures and outages are inevitable in technology, the measure of success lies in how quickly major internet firms can recover from such rare outages [115237]. |
| Behaviour |
crash, omission, other |
(a) crash: The articles describe a software failure incident related to a crash where the system lost state and did not perform its intended functions. Both Fastly and Akamai experienced outages due to software bugs that caused significant portions of their networks to go down, affecting numerous websites [115237].
(b) omission: The incident also involved omission failures where the systems omitted to perform their intended functions at instances. For example, Fastly's software bug briefly took out around 85% of the company's network, impacting a large number of customers [115237].
(c) timing: The timing of the software failure incident was not specifically mentioned in the articles.
(d) value: The incident did not involve failures due to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly.
(e) byzantine: The incident did not involve failures due to the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions.
(f) other: The other behavior observed in this software failure incident was the potential risk of the internet's huge reliance on just a few CDNs becoming the target of an attack, which could lead to significant disruptions in internet services [115237]. |