| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident having happened again at one_organization:
- Bank of America's website had previously suffered a one-day outage in January due to a glitch in a routine system change [8529].
- Bank of America's website woes continued into their sixth day on Wednesday, with customers complaining about login issues [8529].
(b) The software failure incident having happened again at multiple_organization:
- Chase's online banking service experienced a three-day outage a year ago [8529]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident at Bank of America's website was not attributed to a hack, malware, or denial of service attack [8529]. Experts suggested that the increased latency time and website slowdowns were typical of a website overloaded with traffic, which could be a result of system development factors such as increased server requests affecting availability [8529].
(b) The article did not specifically mention any contributing factors related to the operation or misuse of the system in the software failure incident at Bank of America's website [8529]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) within_system: The software failure incident at Bank of America's website was primarily attributed to issues within the system itself. The bank's spokesperson mentioned that the performance problems were not the result of hacking, malware, or a denial of service attack [8529]. Additionally, monitoring firms detected patterns of slowdowns and outages within the bank's website, indicating internal system issues affecting availability [8529].
(b) outside_system: While there were speculations about a possible Denial of Service (DoS) attack causing the increased latency and slowdowns, it was not confirmed. The bank's spokesperson emphasized that the recent performance issues were not due to a DoS attack [8529]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident at Bank of America was primarily attributed to non-human actions. The bank's website experienced performance issues and outages, with experts suggesting that the increased latency time was typical of a website overloaded with traffic. This could have been caused by a surge in legitimate traffic or a potential Denial of Service (DoS) attack, where attackers flood the website's servers with requests, making the site unreachable or unresponsive [8529].
(b) While the articles do not explicitly mention any software failure incident at Bank of America being directly caused by human actions, it is important to note that the bank did face challenges related to its website performance due to factors like the introduction of a $5 monthly fee for debit card customers, routine system changes, and potential rumors of being targeted by denial of service attacks [8529]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident at Bank of America was not attributed to hardware issues but rather to software-related factors. The article mentions that the website's troubles began after the bank unveiled a new fee for debit card customers, and Bank of America insisted that the performance issues were not the result of hacking, malware, or a denial of service attack [8529].
(b) The software failure incident at Bank of America was primarily due to software-related factors. The article highlights that the website's performance issues were not caused by hacking, malware, or a denial of service attack. Instead, experts suggested that the increased latency time and slowdowns were typical of a website overloaded with traffic, indicating a software-related issue [8529]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident at Bank of America was not attributed to a malicious attack. Bank of America stated that the recent performance issues were not the result of hacking, malware, or a denial of service attack [8529]. Additionally, experts mentioned that the increased latency time and website slowdown were typical of a website overloaded with traffic, which could be due to natural reasons or a potential Denial of Service attack [8529].
(b) The software failure incident at Bank of America was more likely a non-malicious failure caused by factors such as increased traffic overwhelming the website's servers. The article mentions that the site's troubles began after the bank unveiled a new fee for debit card customers, and the increased traffic could have been a result of customers trying to access their accounts online [8529]. Additionally, the article highlights that the website slowdown and outages were detected by monitoring firms, indicating technical issues rather than a deliberate attack [8529]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
unknown |
From the provided article [8529], the software failure incident related to Bank of America's website issues does not explicitly point to either poor decisions or accidental decisions as the intent behind the failure. The article mainly discusses the technical aspects of the website problems, such as increased latency, potential denial of service attacks, and server overload, without delving into specific decision-making processes that led to the failure. Therefore, based on the information available, it is unknown whether the software failure incident was primarily caused by poor decisions or accidental decisions. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence |
(a) The software failure incident related to development incompetence is not explicitly mentioned in the provided article. Bank of America did not provide specific details on the root cause of the website issues, but they denied that it was due to hacking, malware, or a denial of service attack. The article mentions that experts observed increased latency time typical of a website overloaded with traffic, which could indicate a lack of scalability planning or inadequate infrastructure to handle sudden spikes in traffic [8529].
(b) The software failure incident related to accidental factors is not explicitly mentioned in the provided article. The article primarily discusses the ongoing website issues faced by Bank of America, including sporadic login problems and performance issues. The root cause of the problem was not disclosed by the bank, but it was noted that the site's functionality was impacted by increased traffic, potentially due to natural events or a possible attack [8529]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
(a) The software failure incident at Bank of America's website was temporary. The issues with the website persisted for six days before returning to normal around 2:30 p.m. ET on the sixth day [8529]. The bank had been rigorously monitoring the online banking system and deploying alternate homepages to guide customers to the right destination quickly during the outage period. The company was assessing the situation and investigating the problem to ensure the site's functionality would return to normal [8529]. |
| Behaviour |
omission, other |
(a) crash: The article mentions that Bank of America's website experienced performance issues, with customers sporadically unable to log in, and the site's functionality not returning to normal for several days [8529].
(b) omission: The article highlights that Bank of America's website had delays and outages, affecting customers' ability to access their accounts online [8529].
(c) timing: The article discusses how the website slowdown at Bank of America occurred at specific times, affecting availability intermittently throughout the day [8529].
(d) value: There is no specific mention of the system performing its intended functions incorrectly in the articles.
(e) byzantine: The article does not mention the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions.
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident at Bank of America could also be described as a performance degradation due to increased latency time, potentially caused by an overload of traffic or a Denial of Service attack [8529]. |