Software Testing Blog

Whenever a major crime has been committed – or whenever foul play is involved – a software bug is sure to be one of the usual suspects.

Without the right to a fair trial however, many of these bugs are  found guilty of crimes they did not commit. Perhaps a witness confused them with a similar looking feature, or maybe they were framed by a developer…

In any event, when they are to blame, software bugs hardly ever face the cruel and unusual punishment they deserve. Most of the time, they are back on the streets web the very next day. Where’s the outrage? Won’t somebody think of the user!

So just how lawless have software bugs become? Here’s a list of recent crimes for which they are suspects:

Market Manipulation
“The House Financial Services securities subcommittee plans to hold a hearing to examine what caused the US stock market to plunge almost 1,000 points in a half hour Thursday, and it called on the SEC to investigate possible problems with computer algorithms that may have exacerbated a human order-entry error and led to the precipitous drop. ‘Reports have surfaced that much of this movement was potentially as a result of a computer glitch,’ Committee Chairman Kanjorski said. ‘We cannot allow a technological error to spook the markets and cause panic. This is unacceptable. In this day and age and with the use of such complex technology, we should be able to make sure that our financial markets are effectively monitored and investors are protected.’” (From Slashdot)

Voter Fraud
“Presidential elections will proceed next week as scheduled and a voting machine supplier has promised to correct defects that had sparked fears of chaotic failure in the Philippines’ first automated vote, officials said Wednesday.The Commission on Elections ordered the recall Tuesday of 76,000 memory cards to be used in optical counting machines after some malfunctioned in tests….The glitches were discovered just six days before 50 million Filipino voters elect a new president, vice president and officials to fill nearly 18,000 national and local posts in elections that have been sullied by suspicions of possible vote-rigging….” (From the Associated Press)

Kidnapping
“A Twitter security glitch left celebrities and members of the public mourning the temporary loss of their legions of online fans yesterday….The technical flaw, which allowed any Twitter user to force another to subscribe to their ‘tweets’ without the ‘follower’ giving permission, was discovered by staff yesterday….It means thousands of star users found themselves following complete strangers….Reality TV star Kim Kardashian wrote: ‘Someone hacked my account and direct messaged me! They have added over 200 new people! Ughhhh.” (From DailyMail.co.uk)

Driving to Endanger
” Toyota instituted the Vehicle Stability Control system in 1997 on Lexus vehicles, which it describes as “sensors, actuators, and computer electronics (that) help avoid and recover from vehicle skids and spins.” Sensors detect when the vehicle’s direction of travel does not correlate with “driver steering inputs.” The system then uses throttle and selective brake intervention to help maintain the path of travel.

In the case of the Lexus GX 460, “it was a bad choice of (programmed) settings,” said Jeff Bartlett, online deputy editor for autos at Consumer Reports, which first identified the problem. “If you were decelerating from a highway to an off-ramp–they just gave it too much latitude, really,” he said in a phone interview. “It wasn’t an electronic problem per se, it was more of an engineering software decision.” (From CNET)

If you have information that could lead to the arrest or exoneration of a software bug, you should sign up to our tester community to claim your reward.