The Real Millennium Bug

Those who, like me, were alive during the turn of the year from 1999 to 2000, well remember how much was said about the Millennium Bug. Machines were going to stop and the world would collapse because computer clocks were set for two digits. The machine would interpret the year 00 as less than the year 99 and basically, all services would be interrupted. Well now, in 2024, we are experiencing what truly is a bug to be remembered for a thousand years. A crash caused by an update in Microsoft Windows and probably an interaction with CrowdStrike, the result? Blue screen and thousands of services unavailable.

Airports were crowded with no prediction for resolution of the problems. The check-in systems collapsed due to the problem in Windows. Banks became inoperative, and payment systems went down. Additionally, the 911 telephone system in the United States was out of service for hours. The reason? It was neither a cyberattack nor a security failure, but rather a bug, an issue caused by updates. The impacts make us reflect on the importance of good planning in development and reinforce the importance of well-structured DevOps and quality processes.

Of course, we are speaking in theory; the details of the event will be known in the coming days, or perhaps we may not have such detailed information. The important thing is to reflect on the necessity and responsibility that all decision-makers have to structure their technology operations well, not to disdain a good pipeline, nor robust quality processes. The level of technological dependency today is immense, and basically, nothing works without technology.

It also raises a red flag about technologies that are in the hype but are not yet fully consolidated. The first reports suggest that part of the problem may have been caused by CrowdStrike’s artificial intelligence. The question remains: Are AI solutions mature, or should we exercise more caution in their use? The answer will come in days, or maybe not!