Incident: Nationwide Banking Glitch Causes Christmas Shopping Chaos and Payment Delays

Published Date: 2021-12-21

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident at Nationwide happened on December 21, 2021, as reported in Article 121919.
System 1. Nationwide's payment system [121919]
Responsible Organization 1. Nationwide - The software failure incident affecting Nationwide customers was caused by an issue within the company's payment system, leading to customers being unable to transfer or receive money and access their online banking accounts [121919].
Impacted Organization 1. Nationwide customers [Article 121919]
Software Causes 1. Software glitch causing inability for customers to transfer or receive money and access online banking accounts [121919] 2. Error message displayed on the Nationwide website indicating issues with the payment system [121919] 3. Delays in processing payments due to the software issue [121919]
Non-software Causes 1. High volume of customer transactions leading to system overload [Article 121919]
Impacts 1. Customers were unable to transfer or receive money, access online banking accounts, or make payments, causing frustration and inconvenience [121919]. 2. Some customers experienced delays in receiving their wages, affecting their ability to shop before Christmas [121919]. 3. The software failure led to customers expressing their dissatisfaction on social media platforms, highlighting the impact on their daily lives and financial transactions [121919]. 4. Nationwide had to issue refunds for charges and fees incurred by customers as a result of the software failure incident [121919].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough testing procedures before deploying any changes to the payment system could have potentially prevented the software failure incident [121919]. 2. Regularly conducting system maintenance and updates to ensure the stability and reliability of the payment system could have helped prevent such glitches [121919]. 3. Enhancing the monitoring and alerting systems to quickly identify and address any issues that arise in the payment system could have minimized the impact of the failure incident [121919].
Fixes 1. Implementing a comprehensive system monitoring and alerting mechanism to quickly identify and address glitches in the payment system [121919]. 2. Conducting a thorough root cause analysis to understand the underlying issues causing the software failure and implementing necessary fixes to prevent recurrence [121919]. 3. Enhancing the scalability and resilience of the payment system to handle increased loads and prevent similar incidents during peak usage times [121919]. 4. Improving communication channels with customers to provide timely updates and transparency regarding the status of the payment system issues [121919].
References 1. Nationwide customers affected by the banking glitch [Article 121919] 2. Nationwide website displaying error messages [Article 121919] 3. Social media posts from frustrated customers [Article 121919] 4. Responses from Nationwide representatives to customers [Article 121919]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring unknown (a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization: - The article does not mention any previous incidents of a similar nature happening again within Nationwide or with its products and services. Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest that this specific software failure incident has occurred again within the same organization [121919]. (b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization: - The article does not provide information about similar incidents happening at other organizations or with their products and services. Hence, there is no indication that this specific software failure incident has occurred again at multiple organizations [121919].
Phase (Design/Operation) design, operation (a) The software failure incident in the Nationwide banking system can be attributed to the design phase. The incident was caused by a banking glitch that prevented customers from spending or receiving money, accessing online banking accounts, and processing payments properly [121919]. This glitch was likely introduced by system development or updates that led to errors in the payment system, causing inconvenience to customers and delays in payment processing. (b) Additionally, the software failure incident can also be linked to the operation phase. Customers faced issues with transferring or receiving money, accessing online banking accounts, and making payments, indicating problems with the operation or usage of the system [121919]. The delays in payment processing and the inability to access funds can be considered operational failures that impacted the functionality of the banking system.
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system, outside_system From the provided articles, the software failure incident at Nationwide can be attributed to factors both within and outside the system: (a) within_system: The software failure incident within the system is evident from the fact that customers were unable to transfer or receive money, access their online banking accounts, and experienced delays in payment processing [121919]. (b) outside_system: On the other hand, the software failure incident was also influenced by factors outside the system, such as frustrated customers expressing their concerns on social media, indicating the impact of the failure on their ability to receive wages and go shopping before Christmas [121919].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions, human_actions (a) The software failure incident in the Nationwide banking system was primarily due to non-human actions. The incident was described as a "banking glitch" that caused customers to be unable to spend or receive money, access online banking accounts, or make transfers [Article 121919]. The company mentioned that Direct Debits and standing orders were working normally, indicating that the issue was specific to certain functionalities within the system. Additionally, the Nationwide website displayed error messages to communicate the status of the payment system, and the team was actively working to resolve the problems [Article 121919]. (b) Human actions also played a role in the software failure incident. Customers expressed frustration on social media about the delays in receiving payments and the inability to access their money for an extended period. Some customers criticized Nationwide for the delays, lack of communication, and overall poor service quality during the outage [Article 121919]. Representatives from Nationwide responded to these complaints, acknowledging the issues and apologizing for the inconvenience caused to customers.
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 121919 was not attributed to hardware issues. The incident was specifically related to a banking glitch affecting Nationwide customers, causing problems with transferring or receiving money, accessing online banking accounts, and delays in payment processing. The company mentioned that Direct Debits and standing orders were working normally, indicating that the issue was more software-related rather than hardware-related [121919].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 121919 was non-malicious. The incident was described as a banking glitch that affected Nationwide customers, leading to issues with transferring or receiving money, accessing online banking accounts, and delays in payments. The company acknowledged the problem, displayed error messages on their website, and assured customers that the team was working to resolve the issues as soon as possible. Representatives from Nationwide responded to frustrated customers online, apologized for the delays, and mentioned that the issue had been resolved, with queued payments being processed and refunds being offered for charges and fees incurred as a result of the problem. There was no indication in the article that the failure was caused by malicious intent or actions [121919].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) unknown (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 121919 seems to be more related to poor_decisions. The incident was described as a banking glitch that caused chaos for Nationwide customers, leading to issues with transferring or receiving money and accessing online banking accounts. Customers expressed frustration on social media, highlighting delays in receiving payments and the inability to make essential purchases before Christmas. Nationwide representatives acknowledged the delays and apologized for the inconvenience caused, indicating that the issue had been resolved and payments were being processed [121919].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident reported in the articles does not indicate any specific evidence of development incompetence. The issue seems to be more related to a technical glitch or system outage rather than a failure caused by lack of professional competence. (b) The software failure incident appears to be accidental, as it was described as a banking glitch that caused customers to be unable to spend or receive money. The incident was not attributed to intentional actions or deliberate sabotage but rather to an unexpected technical issue that affected the payment system [121919].
Duration temporary (a) The software failure incident described in the articles was temporary. Customers experienced issues with transferring or receiving money, accessing online banking accounts, and delays in payments processing. The incident caused frustration among customers, with some expressing their concerns on social media. Nationwide acknowledged the problem and mentioned that they were working to resolve it as quickly as possible. The company also provided updates on their website and responded to customers' complaints. Ultimately, the issue was resolved, and Nationwide stated that all payments that had been queued were being processed, and they would refund any charges and fees incurred by customers as a result of the problem [121919].
Behaviour crash, omission, timing, value, byzantine, other (a) crash: The software failure incident in the Nationwide banking system resulted in customers being unable to access any services, transfer or receive money, or get into their online banking accounts, indicating a crash where the system lost its state and did not perform its intended functions [Article 121919]. (b) omission: Customers reported being unable to receive wages and go shopping before Christmas due to the payment system outage, indicating an omission where the system omitted to perform its intended functions at that instance [Article 121919]. (c) timing: Some customers experienced delays in receiving their payments, with one customer mentioning receiving their payment 11 hours after it was supposed to arrive, indicating a timing issue where the system performed its intended functions but too late [Article 121919]. (d) value: The software failure incident led to customers facing delays in deposits, inability to access their money, and delays in payments, indicating a value issue where the system performed its intended functions incorrectly [Article 121919]. (e) byzantine: The Nationwide banking system displayed inconsistent responses to customers, with some experiencing delays in payments while others faced complete inability to access their accounts, suggesting a byzantine behavior with inconsistent interactions and responses [Article 121919]. (f) other: The software failure incident also caused frustration among customers, with some expressing their dissatisfaction on social media and criticizing Nationwide for the ongoing issues, which could be categorized as an "other" behavior of the system failure incident [Article 121919].

IoT System Layer

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

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence basic, property, delay (a) death: There is no mention of any deaths related to the software failure incident in the articles [121919]. (b) harm: There is no mention of physical harm caused to individuals due to the software failure incident in the articles [121919]. (c) basic: The software failure impacted people's access to food or shelter as mentioned by a customer who stated, "Literally sat here with no food and no heat due to this" [121919]. (d) property: People's material goods, money, or data were impacted due to the software failure incident. Customers were unable to transfer or receive money, access online banking accounts, and faced delays in receiving payments [121919]. (e) delay: People had to postpone activities due to the software failure incident. For example, a customer mentioned delays in receiving payments, and another customer expressed frustration over delays in accessing their money [121919]. (f) non-human: There is no mention of non-human entities being impacted due to the software failure incident in the articles [121919]. (g) no_consequence: There were observed consequences of the software failure incident, such as customers being unable to access banking services, transfer money, or receive payments [121919]. (h) theoretical_consequence: The articles do not discuss potential consequences of the software failure that did not occur [121919]. (i) other: There are no other consequences of the software failure incident mentioned in the articles [121919].
Domain finance (a) The failed system in this incident was related to the finance industry, specifically affecting Nationwide customers' ability to transfer or receive money and access their online banking accounts [Article 121919].

Sources

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