Computers as weapons

From: Pete Turnbull <pete_at_dunnington.u-net.com>
Date: Mon May 7 14:51:07 2001

On May 7, 15:26, James B. DiGriz wrote:

> Trying to get in something at least a little on-topic, I've heard of
> people being killed accidently by industrial robots and such, or the
> prospect of the imminent demise of hospital patients due to script
> kiddies screwing around with medical records databases or life support
> equipment, but does anyone know of an instance where a computer was used
> to kill someone? Including military or intelligence cases?

The only documented case I recall immediately is the famous Therac-25 case.
 This was essentially a case of misdesign, which led to half a dozen
deaths. A Google search for "therac" or "leveson" will find plenty of
references.

Some time ago, when I was doing a course on Software Engineering for Safety
Critical Systems, I came across a book with several other reports, but I
can't remember the title or author :-( I don't recall any other fatal
incidents, though.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York
Received on Mon May 07 2001 - 14:51:07 BST

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