The computer programming flaw known as the Millennium Bug, which damaged PCs in 2000, is back, with users of Microsoft Exchange reporting similar problems accessing email 22 years later.
The issue of shutting down Exchange servers around the world started as soon as it struck midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Microsoft’s system administrators have dubbed the glitch Y2K22 in reference to the Y2K bug, a computer programming problem that affected some computers at the turn of the millennium 22 years ago.
As the new millennium drew to a close, computer programmers realized that their software could interpret 00 not as 2000, but as 1900 – a mistake that many feared it would cost governments around the world. will affect, cause disaster for corporations, banks and industries.
Many economists had predicted a worldwide recession, and doomsday publications in the late 1990s warned of a catastrophic fall as a result of computer malfunctions.
Fortunately, the computer apocalypse never passed, with only minimal disruptions recorded, but the issue has returned to plague some Microsoft Exchange servers 22 years later.
The issue of shutting down Exchange servers around the world began as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve
Microsoft has yet to confirm the technical details of the failure, but said engineers are ‘working round the clock’ which will require ‘several days for development and deployment’.
In the late 1990s the UK government published flyers about the bug. As the new millennium drew to a close, computer programmers realized that their software could interpret 00 not as 2000, but as 1900 – a mistake that many feared it would cost governments around the world. will affect, cause disaster for corporations, banks and industries.
The problem stems from the way Microsoft updates for its malware-scanning engine, which uses another four-digit numbers before the year, month, and date, known as the update number.
For example, in this case the updated number would be 220101, followed by 0001.
This system is used to keep track of the updates, the latest update is given a higher value.
But the field in which the updated number is stored has a limit of 31 bits, which means that the maximum value that can be input is two to the power of 31, or 2,147,483,648.
When the calendar ticked up to 2022, the naming system exceeded the maximum value and failed.
As a result, Microsoft’s anti-malware scanning software, which queues and checks messages before they are delivered to recipients, is queuing emails and not sending them.
Microsoft has yet to confirm the technical details of the failure, but has said engineers are ‘working round the clock’ to help customers avoid messing with their on-site servers so employees can access their emails. to access again. be allowed to do.
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Many economists had predicted a worldwide recession, and doomsday publications in the late 1990s warned of a catastrophic fall as a result of computer malfunctions.
Microsoft has said the fix will require ‘several days to develop and deploy’ and that engineers are working on a separate update that will require customer action but will also provide the ‘fastest time to resolve’ . Will do
The company said: ‘Version checking against the signature file is causing the malware engine to crash, resulting in messages getting stuck in the transport queue.’
System administrators have taken to social media to share workarounds, which include disabling anti-malware scanning, leaving the system open to attack.
“If you’re not sure that your Exchange Server storage has the ability to hold all queued messages without filling up disk and crashing, don’t wait for a Microsoft patch,” he wrote.
‘Apply the solution now to release messages as quickly as possible.’
However, Microsoft warns that the workaround can only be used if you have an existing malware scanner for email in addition to the engine in Exchange Server.
System administrators have taken to social media to share workarounds, which include disabling anti-malware scanning, leaving the system open to attack.
The Microsoft Exchange team added: ‘We hope to have this update for you soon with the necessary actions for you. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused due to this issue.
The issue will be familiar to those who remember the Millennium Bug, known by the general public as the Y2K scare, in the years leading up to 2000.
As the new millennium drew to a close, computer programmers realized that their software could interpret 00 not as 2000, but as 1900 – a mistake that many feared it would cost governments around the world. will affect, cause disaster for corporations, banks and industries.
Some forecasters predicted that between $400m and $600b would be needed to fix the possible consequences of the bug, causing public panic.
People stocked up on food and water, pulled out large sums of money and bought backup generators in anticipation of the computer-programmed apocalypse when the clock struck midnight in 2000.
But, contrary to popular opinion at the time, some major errors occurred, mainly due to the pre-emptive action of computer programmers and technical experts. By 2000, companies in most countries had tested, improved and upgraded their systems to address the issue.
It was feared that the Y2K bug could shut down computers at the turn of the millennium
People all over the world stocked up on food and water, pulled out huge amounts of money, and bought backup generators in anticipation of potential problems caused by Y2K.
However, on 1 January 2000, some problems still emerged.
In Sheffield, the bug miscalculated the ages of many expectant mothers, and sent incorrect risk assessments for 154 pregnant women for Down syndrome.
As a direct result, two miscarriages were performed and four children with the syndrome were born to mothers who were previously told they were in a low-risk group.
In Ishikawa, Japan, radiation monitoring equipment failed at midnight, but officials insisted there was no risk to the public and that the backup system worked without problems at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa at 00:02 is installed. except for the alarm.
US In 2006, the ground control station’s computers stopped processing information from an unspecified number of spy satellites at midnight, but normal functionality was restored within a few days.