Incident: Bank of America Online Banking Service Interruption.

Published Date: 2011-03-01

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident at Bank of America's online banking service happened on an unspecified date mentioned in the article [4345]. Therefore, the timeline of the incident is unknown as the specific date of the incident is not provided in the article.
System The system that failed in the software failure incident at Bank of America was: 1. Bank of America's online-banking service [4345].
Responsible Organization 1. Bank of America's update to its website over the weekend caused the intermittent service disruptions [4345]. 2. The technical issue was not impacting customer information or compromising customer security [4345].
Impacted Organization 1. Bank of America's online-banking service for U.S. customers [4345]
Software Causes 1. The software causes of the failure incident at Bank of America's online banking service were related to an update to BofA's website over the weekend, causing intermittent service disruptions [4345].
Non-software Causes 1. The issue was caused by an update to BofA's website over the weekend, leading to intermittent service disruptions [4345]. 2. The problem first occurred yesterday afternoon, indicating a potential issue with the recent update implementation [4345]. 3. The service disruptions were not impacting customer information or compromising customer security, suggesting that the issue was not related to a security breach [4345].
Impacts 1. Bank of America's online-banking service was down for U.S. customers, displaying an error message indicating "online banking is temporarily unavailable" [4345]. 2. Customers were unable to access their online banking accounts, leading to frustration and complaints on social media platforms like Twitter [4345]. 3. The intermittent service disruptions caused inconvenience to customers who rely on online banking for their financial transactions and management [4345].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough testing procedures before deploying updates to the website could have prevented the software failure incident [4345]. 2. Conducting a risk assessment of the update's potential impact on the online banking service prior to implementation could have helped identify and mitigate any issues that could lead to service disruptions [4345]. 3. Having a robust monitoring system in place to quickly detect and address any service disruptions as soon as they occur could have minimized the impact of the software failure incident [4345].
Fixes 1. Implementing a fix for the update to Bank of America's website that caused the intermittent service disruptions [4345].
References 1. Bank of America spokesperson Tara Burke 2. Bank of America technical-support person 3. Upset customers on Twitter 4. CNET's Elinor Mills [4345]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring one_organization (a) The software failure incident has happened again at one_organization: - The article mentions that the online banking service issue at Bank of America occurred again after being restored once. The problem first occurred yesterday afternoon, and the service was restored in the morning only to go down "nationwide" a few hours later [4345].
Phase (Design/Operation) design (a) The software failure incident at Bank of America was related to the design phase. The issue was caused by an update to BofA's website over the weekend, which resulted in intermittent service disruptions for online banking users across the U.S. The company spokeswoman mentioned that the problem was not impacting customer information or compromising customer security, indicating that the issue stemmed from changes made during the development or update process [4345]. (b) The software failure incident was not explicitly linked to operation-related factors such as misuse of the system. The article primarily focused on the technical issues arising from the system update and the subsequent service disruptions experienced by customers, rather than any operational errors or misuse leading to the failure [4345].
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) The software failure incident at Bank of America's online banking service was within the system. The issue was caused by an update to BofA's website over the weekend, leading to intermittent service disruptions. The problem first occurred yesterday afternoon, and despite the company restoring service in the morning, it went down "nationwide" a few hours later [4345].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident at Bank of America was attributed to an update to the website over the weekend, causing intermittent service disruptions. This indicates a failure due to contributing factors introduced without human participation [4345]. (b) The article does not provide specific information about any human actions contributing to the software failure incident.
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 4345 seems to be primarily related to software issues rather than hardware. The article mentions that the online banking service of Bank of America was down for U.S. customers due to an update to BofA's website causing intermittent service disruptions. The issue is described as a software problem impacting the online banking service, with no indication of hardware-related issues causing the outage. The company spokesperson and technical support person attributed the problem to software updates and service disruptions, indicating a software-related failure rather than a hardware-related one. [4345]
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident at Bank of America, as reported by CNET, does not indicate any malicious intent behind the issue. The article mentions that the online banking service outage was caused by an update to the website over the weekend, leading to intermittent service disruptions. Bank of America's company spokeswoman emphasized that the issue was not compromising customer security or impacting customer information. Additionally, there is no mention of any deliberate actions aimed at harming the system or the customers' data [4345]. (b) The software failure incident at Bank of America appears to be non-malicious in nature, stemming from technical issues related to the website update rather than any intentional harm or malicious activity [4345].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) poor_decisions (a) The software failure incident at Bank of America, as reported by CNET, seems to be related to poor decisions. The issue was caused by an update to BofA's website over the weekend, which led to intermittent service disruptions for online banking users across the U.S. The company spokeswoman mentioned that the problem first occurred yesterday afternoon, and despite restoring service in the morning, it went down "nationwide" a few hours later. This indicates that the update introduced by the company led to the service disruptions, pointing towards poor decisions in the update process [4345].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident seems to be more related to accidental factors rather than development incompetence. The issue was caused by an update to Bank of America's website over the weekend, leading to intermittent service disruptions [4345]. The company spokesperson mentioned that the problem is not impacting customer information or compromising customer security, indicating that it was not due to development incompetence but rather an accidental issue caused by the update.
Duration temporary The software failure incident reported in Article 4345 regarding Bank of America's online banking service being down for U.S. customers can be categorized as a temporary failure. The article mentions that the issue was caused by an update to BofA's website over the weekend, leading to intermittent service disruptions. The problem first occurred yesterday afternoon, and the company was able to restore service in the morning, only to see it go down "nationwide" a few hours later. This indicates that the failure was temporary and not permanent [4345].
Behaviour other (a) crash: The software failure incident described in the article is not a crash. The issue is related to intermittent service disruptions and online banking being temporarily unavailable, indicating that the system is not completely failing to perform any of its intended functions but rather experiencing disruptions [4345]. (b) omission: The software failure incident is not due to the system omitting to perform its intended functions at an instance(s) but rather facing intermittent service disruptions and being temporarily unavailable for users [4345]. (c) timing: The software failure incident is not related to the system performing its intended functions too late or too early. Instead, the issue is about the online banking service being temporarily unavailable for U.S. customers due to intermittent service disruptions [4345]. (d) value: The software failure incident is not due to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly. The article mentions that the issue is not impacting customer information or compromising customer security, indicating that the system is not providing incorrect results but rather facing service disruptions [4345]. (e) byzantine: The software failure incident is not characterized by the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. The issue described in the article is more about intermittent service disruptions and the online banking service being temporarily unavailable for users [4345]. (f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be described as intermittent service disruptions leading to the online banking service being temporarily unavailable for U.S. customers. The system is not completely failing but is experiencing issues that prevent users from accessing the service as expected [4345].

IoT System Layer

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

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence delay (a) death: People lost their lives due to the software failure (b) harm: People were physically harmed due to the software failure (c) basic: People's access to food or shelter was impacted because of the software failure (d) property: People's material goods, money, or data was impacted due to the software failure (e) delay: People had to postpone an activity due to the software failure (f) non-human: Non-human entities were impacted due to the software failure (g) no_consequence: There were no real observed consequences of the software failure (h) theoretical_consequence: There were potential consequences discussed of the software failure that did not occur (i) other: Was there consequence(s) of the software failure not described in the (a to h) options? What is the other consequence(s)? The articles do not mention any consequences related to death, harm, basic needs, property loss, or non-human entities due to the software failure incident at Bank of America. The main consequence mentioned is the inconvenience caused to customers who were unable to access their online banking services, leading to delays in their financial transactions. The article does not indicate any severe consequences beyond customer frustration and inconvenience.
Domain finance (a) The failed system was intended to support the finance industry as it was Bank of America's online banking service that experienced the software failure incident. Customers were unable to access their online banking accounts due to the intermittent service disruptions [4345].

Sources

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