| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident related to Valve's Steam service experiencing glitches on Christmas Day was not the first time such an incident occurred within the same organization. The article mentions that on Saturday morning following the initial incident, various sections of both the Steam store and Valve's company website were still acting erratically, often timing out while loading content. However, these issues appeared to have been resolved by the afternoon [57490].
(b) The incident with Valve's Steam service experiencing glitches on Christmas Day is not unique to Valve alone. Similar incidents have happened before at other organizations or with their products and services. The article mentions that some users on Friday initially thought the Steam site had been hacked, indicating that such incidents are not uncommon in the digital gaming industry [57490]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase: The incident with Valve's Steam service on Christmas was attributed to a technical error resulting from a configuration change that led to a caching issue, allowing some users to see pages generated for other users [57490].
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase: The article does not provide specific information indicating that the failure was due to factors introduced by the operation or misuse of the system. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) The software failure incident with Valve's Steam service on Christmas was primarily within the system. The glitches, including users being able to see others' personal information and the store going offline, were attributed to a technical error that occurred within the system itself. Valve mentioned that a configuration change led to a caching issue, allowing some users to view pages generated for other users for a brief period. The issue was resolved internally by fixing the technical error [57490]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident was primarily due to non-human actions, specifically a technical error that resulted in a caching issue allowing some users to see pages generated for other users [57490].
(b) Human actions were also involved in the incident as users were able to access others' account information during the one-hour window of the glitch. Additionally, some users expressed frustration on Twitter about the company's response time to the incident [57490]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident reported in Article 57490 was primarily due to a technical error that originated in the software itself. The glitches with the Steam service, such as users being able to see others' personal information and the store going offline, were attributed to a configuration change that led to a caching issue, allowing users to view pages generated for other users for a brief period. This issue was acknowledged by Valve as a software-related problem and was subsequently fixed by resolving the caching issue [57490].
(b) The software failure incident was not explicitly attributed to hardware-related factors in the articles. The focus was on a technical error within the software that caused the glitches and privacy issues on the Steam platform. Therefore, the software failure incident in this case was primarily rooted in software-related factors rather than hardware-related factors [57490]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident reported in Article 57490 was non-malicious. The glitches with the Steam service, including users being able to see others' personal information and the store going offline, were attributed to a technical error that occurred due to a configuration change. Valve's representative mentioned that it was a caching issue that allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. The statement also emphasized that no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information, indicating that the incident was not malicious in nature [57490]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
accidental_decisions |
(a) The software failure incident related to poor_decisions:
- The incident was caused by a technical error resulting from a configuration change that led to a caching issue, allowing some users to see pages generated for other users [57490].
- Users were able to view others' personal information, including email addresses, Steam Wallet money, and purchase history, during the one-hour window of the glitch [57490].
- Despite the use of security tools like Steam Guard and Steam Mobile Authenticator, they did not prevent the potential reveal of sensitive information [57490]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence |
(a) The software failure incident related to development incompetence is evident in the article as Valve's popular digital gaming store, Steam, experienced glitches on Christmas, allowing users to see others' personal information and the store going offline. This was attributed to a technical error that occurred due to a configuration change earlier that day [57490].
(b) The software failure incident related to accidental factors is highlighted in the article as the glitches with the Steam service, including the exposure of users' personal information and the store going offline, were described as a caching issue that allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. This issue was resolved, and Valve stated that no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information [57490]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
(a) The software failure incident in this case was temporary. The article mentions that the issues with the Steam service, including users being able to see others' personal information and the store going offline, were the result of a technical error that has since been fixed by Valve. The statement from Valve mentioned that a configuration change earlier that day caused a caching issue, allowing some users to see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. The problems were resolved, and the service was back up and running without any known issues. Additionally, the article notes that the issues appeared to have been resolved by the afternoon of the incident [57490]. |
| Behaviour |
crash, omission, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in the article can be categorized as a crash as the Steam service went offline on Christmas, preventing users from accessing the platform and its features [57490].
(b) omission: The incident can also be classified as an omission as some users were able to see pages generated for other users, indicating a failure of the system to properly restrict access to personal information [57490].
(c) timing: There is no specific indication in the article that the software failure incident was related to timing issues.
(d) value: The incident does not directly relate to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly.
(e) byzantine: The incident does not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions.
(f) other: The other behavior observed in this software failure incident is a privacy breach where users were able to view others' personal information, including email addresses, Steam Wallet money, and purchase history, due to a technical error [57490]. |