The Worst Computer Bugs Of 2011

Earlier this year a man lost a $US57 million jackpot when a casino alleged a “software glitch” on the slot machine. Well, that’s nothing compared to the backlog of $US9 billion in unprocessed payments that happened in Japan on March.

Here are the top five worserest, most expensive computer glitches of 2011, according to Software Quality Systems, a UK company specialised in this kind of thing:

1. Financial firm services AXA Rosenberg made investors lose $US217 million because of a software glitch in their investment model. They hid the bug from their clients, so they had to pay back that amount plus a $US25 million fine to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Oh you cheeky 1% bastards you.

2. Car manufacturer Honda had to recall 2.5 million cars because of a bug that allowed vehicles to shift out of part and engine stalls. That’s a lot of dope for some bad lines of code.

3. Japanese bank Mizuho Financial Group’s clients experienced a software glitch that collapsed their ATM network and internet banking systems. The result was $US1.5 billion in salary payment delays and $US9 billion in unprocessed payments. Nine billion. With B.

4. A $US2.7 billion cloud computing US Army network failed miserably, leaving troops unable to perform the most simple tasks. The system slowed down to a crawl when multiple users were logged in and their search engine as not compatible with the army’s existing search software. I wonder what was the final amount of time and money lost, not to mention the endangerment of lives. They are not telling yet.

5. Here’s a good one — for those who were able to enjoy the glitch. A Commonwealth Bank’s ATM network bug caused the machines to spit large amounts of money to random people. They don’t know how much money people took — or they are not saying. Police said that taking that money was a crime and actually arrested two people. No word about the hundreds who took the money and ran.

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