| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization:
The article mentions that the Kentucky Board of Elections' website was temporarily offline, but the cause of the outage was not immediately clear [133970]. This indicates a software failure incident within the same organization, the Kentucky Board of Elections.
(b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization:
The article reports that Russian-speaking hackers claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi, among other states [133970]. This indicates a software failure incident affecting multiple organizations, in this case, state government websites in different states. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident in the articles can be attributed to the design phase. The incident was caused by a cyberattack claimed by an anonymous suspected foreign actor, leading to the Colorado governor’s Office of Information Technology taking a state web portal offline [133970]. This outage was a result of contributing factors introduced by the system development and the cyberattack targeting state government websites.
(b) The software failure incident can also be linked to the operation phase. The abnormal traffic experienced by some Kentucky.gov state websites, resulting in intermittent interruptions, was due to contributing factors introduced by the operation or misuse of the system [133970]. This abnormal traffic caused disruptions on the websites, requiring investigation and mitigation efforts by the authorities. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) within_system: The software failure incident reported in the articles was primarily caused by a cyberattack orchestrated by the hacking group Killnet. The group claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi, among other states. The Colorado governor's Office of Information Technology mentioned that the state web portal was taken offline "due to a cyberattack claimed by an anonymous suspected foreign actor" [133970].
(b) outside_system: The external factor contributing to the software failure incident was the politically motivated hacking activities of the Russian-speaking hackers associated with Killnet. These hackers targeted state government websites in the United States, including those of Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi, as part of their broader operation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The hacking group's activities were not directly linked to the U.S. elections infrastructure but aimed at causing digital disruption and distraction [133970]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in this case was attributed to non-human actions, specifically a cyberattack by a hacking group known as Killnet. The group claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi, among other states. The Colorado governor's Office of Information Technology mentioned that the state web portal was taken offline "due to a cyberattack claimed by an anonymous suspected foreign actor" [133970].
(b) The articles do not provide information about the software failure incident being caused by human actions. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident reported in the articles was not attributed to hardware issues. The incident was caused by Russian-speaking hackers, specifically a group known as Killnet, who claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The hackers targeted these websites as part of politically motivated hacking following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The incident involved cyberattacks on the websites, leading to their temporary unavailability [133970].
(b) The software failure incident was primarily attributed to software-related factors. The incident involved cyberattacks by the hacking group Killnet, which targeted state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The hackers claimed responsibility for the website outages, indicating that the failure originated from software-related factors such as hacking, digital disruption, and cyberattacks. The incident did not stem from hardware issues but rather from software vulnerabilities exploited by the hackers [133970]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
malicious |
(a) The software failure incident in this case is malicious. Russian-speaking hackers, specifically the group known as Killnet, claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The hackers are politically motivated and have targeted organizations in NATO countries as a response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They have a history of conducting cyberattacks on various entities, including briefly downing a US Congress website and targeting organizations in Lithuania. The hacking group's actions are intentional and aimed at causing disruption and potentially harm to the systems they target [133970].
(b) The software failure incident is non-malicious. While the specific cause of the outage on the Kentucky Board of Elections' website was not immediately clear, it was not directly attributed to the actions of the hackers. Additionally, the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) mentioned that the hacking campaign did not appear to specifically target U.S. elections infrastructure, although election-related websites could be indirectly or directly impacted. The intermittent connection issues experienced by multiple states' websites following suspected cyberattacks were also highlighted, indicating a non-malicious aspect of the software failure incident [133970]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions |
(a) The intent of the software failure incident related to poor decisions can be inferred from the article. The software failure incident, which involved Russian-speaking hackers targeting state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi, was claimed to be politically motivated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The hacking group known as Killnet, described as politically motivated hackers supporting the Kremlin, targeted organizations in NATO countries as a form of digital disruption or distraction. The group's actions, including targeting US state websites, were seen as part of a broader operation following the invasion of Ukraine. This indicates that the software failure incident was driven by poor decisions made by the hackers to engage in politically motivated cyberattacks [133970].
(b) The software failure incident does not appear to be related to accidental decisions or unintended mistakes. Instead, it was a deliberate and politically motivated act carried out by the hacking group Killnet. The group's actions were part of a targeted campaign following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, indicating a clear intent behind the cyberattacks on state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The group's activities were purposeful and not accidental, as they claimed responsibility for the website outages as part of their broader operation [133970]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
unknown |
(a) The software failure incident related to development incompetence is not explicitly mentioned in the provided article [133970].
(b) The software failure incident in the article is attributed to Russian-speaking hackers, specifically a group known as Killnet, who claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi. This incident is considered an intentional cyberattack rather than an accidental failure [133970]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
(a) The software failure incident in the articles was temporary as the websites of Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi were sporadically available and then brought back online after experiencing outages [133970]. |
| Behaviour |
crash |
(a) crash: The software failure incident mentioned in the articles resulted in websites of state government entities such as Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi going offline intermittently [133970].
(b) omission: The Kentucky Board of Elections' website, which provides information on voter registration, was temporarily offline, but the cause of the outage was not immediately clear [133970].
(c) timing: The websites in Colorado, Kentucky, and Mississippi were sporadically available on Wednesday morning and afternoon as administrators tried to bring them back online [133970].
(d) value: The Colorado governor's Office of Information Technology mentioned that a state web portal was taken offline due to a cyberattack by an anonymous suspected foreign actor [133970].
(e) byzantine: The hacking group responsible for the website outage, known as Killnet, is described as a loose band of politically motivated hackers who support the Kremlin, but their ties to the Russian government are unknown [133970].
(f) other: The hacking group Killnet has targeted various organizations in NATO countries and claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on different entities, including briefly downing a US Congress website and targeting organizations in Lithuania [133970]. |