We had a possible taste last week of what many feared might happen back in the year 2000 with the Y2K bug that proliferated most computer operating systems.
The glitch was not caused by nefarious actions but rather by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. CrowdStrike launched an update that was a run-of-the-mill standard practice that unfortunately caused an unintended major glitch, which subsequently shut down thousands of networks.
That shutdown led to the havoc we witnessed last week.
Millennium Bug
A computer flaw, the so-called “Millennium Bug,” led to anxiety and the Y2K (Year 2000) scare. When complex computer programs were first written in the 1960s, engineers used a two-digit code for the year, leaving out the “19.” As the year 2000 approached, many believed that the systems would not interpret the “00” correctly, therefore causing a major glitch in the system.
PHOTOGRAPH BY EMORY KRISTOF