| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident related to Nelnet's website crashing due to high traffic is an example of a recurring issue within the same organization. The article mentions that Nelnet's website was down, causing inconvenience to users trying to access information about student loan relief [131759]. This indicates that Nelnet has faced similar challenges with website performance in the past.
(b) The article also highlights that other student loan servicing companies, such as Aidvantage, were experiencing outages or slowdowns on their websites as well. This suggests that the software failure incident was not isolated to just one organization but was affecting multiple organizations in the same industry [131759]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident in the article seems to be related to the design phase. The crash of the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet, was attributed to the high website and phone traffic following President Biden's announcement about student loan forgiveness. The companies were updating their websites and systems to explain the relief available for federal student loans, indicating that the failure was due to factors introduced during system development or updates [131759].
(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) within_system: The software failure incident, in this case, seems to be primarily within the system. The article mentions that the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet and Great Lakes, crashed or experienced slowdowns following President Biden's announcement about student loan forgiveness. The issues were related to high website and phone traffic, updates being made to the websites and systems, and the need to explain the relief available for federal student loans [131759]. These factors indicate that the failure originated from within the system of the student loan servicing companies.
(b) outside_system: There is no explicit mention in the article of contributing factors originating from outside the system that led to the software failure incident. The focus is more on the internal challenges faced by the student loan servicing companies in handling the increased traffic and updates related to the loan forgiveness announcement. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in this case appears to be primarily due to non-human actions. The article mentions that the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet, crashed following President Biden's announcement regarding student loan payment pause and forgiveness. The crash was attributed to extremely high website and phone traffic, indicating a surge in user activity triggered by the announcement. Nelnet's homepage displayed a notice stating they were updating their websites and systems to accommodate the relief options for federal student loans, suggesting that the system was overwhelmed by the sudden influx of users and data processing requirements [131759]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident reported in Article 131759 was not attributed to hardware issues. The article specifically mentions that the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet and Great Lakes, crashed due to the high website and phone traffic following President Biden's announcement about student loan forgiveness. This indicates that the failure originated from software-related issues such as server overload or insufficient capacity to handle the increased traffic, rather than hardware problems.
(b) The software failure incident in Article 131759 was primarily due to software-related factors. The article highlights that the login page for Nelnet was down, and the company was updating its websites and systems to accommodate the new relief options for federal student loans. Additionally, the Federal Student Aid website also experienced issues with some pages taking longer to display due to high traffic. These issues point towards software-related failures such as server unresponsiveness, slow loading times, and website outages, rather than hardware failures. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident in this case appears to be non-malicious. The incident occurred as a result of the overwhelming traffic and high demand on the websites of student loan servicing companies following President Biden's announcement regarding student loan payment pause and forgiveness. The websites of Nelnet, Great Lakes, and other servicers crashed or experienced slowdowns due to the surge in visitors seeking information about the loan cancellation announcement. There is no indication in the article that the failure was caused by malicious intent or actions [131759]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions |
(a) The software failure incident related to the student loan servicing companies' websites crashing after President Biden's announcement of extending the student loan payment pause and forgiving up to $10,000 in student loans seems to be more aligned with poor_decisions. The overload and subsequent crash of the websites can be attributed to the surge in traffic following the announcement, indicating that the companies may not have adequately prepared their systems to handle such a high volume of users accessing their platforms simultaneously. This lack of scalability and preparedness could be seen as a poor decision on the part of the companies in terms of infrastructure planning and capacity management [131759]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence |
(a) The software failure incident in the article seems to be related to development incompetence. The article mentions that after President Biden's announcement regarding student loan payment pause and forgiveness, the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet, crashed due to high website and phone traffic. Nelnet apologized for the issue and mentioned they were updating their websites and systems to explain the relief available for federal student loans. The article also highlights that other student loan servicers were experiencing outages or slowdowns as well, indicating a widespread issue possibly stemming from development challenges [131759].
(b) The software failure incident does not seem to be related to accidental factors but rather to the overwhelming response and traffic following the announcement by President Biden. The crashes and slowdowns experienced by the student loan servicing company websites were a result of the high volume of visitors seeking information and updates after the announcement, rather than any accidental introduction of contributing factors [131759]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident related to the student loan servicing company websites crashing after President Biden's announcement appears to be temporary. The articles mention that the websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet and Aidvantage, experienced outages or slowdowns following the announcement. Nelnet's homepage displayed a notice about updating their systems to explain the relief available, and the FSA site also mentioned delays due to high traffic. These issues indicate a temporary failure caused by the sudden surge in traffic and updates being made to accommodate the new information [131759]. |
| Behaviour |
crash |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in the articles is related to a crash. The websites of several student loan servicing companies, including Nelnet and Aidvantage, crashed following President Biden's announcement regarding student loan payment pause and forgiveness [131759].
(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 is not related to timing issues where the system performs its intended functions but too late or too early.
(d) value: The software failure incident is not related to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly.
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident is not related to the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions.
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident is a crash, where the system lost its state and was not performing its intended functions as the websites of student loan servicing companies were down [131759]. |