Anti-Social Networking - ' Municipal Meltdown' (
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Municipal Meltdown
The Problem:
In early October, the city of Mesa, Ariz., suffered
a hardware glitch that erased municipal documents and
hindered access to e-mail. A city spokeswoman said Mesa's
storage platform malfunctioned, and the vendor, Hewlett-
Packard, corrected the problem at no cost, according to the
East Valley Tribune. Files saved after Sept. 25 were lost, but
that loss was limited, the spokeswoman said. The e-mail
problems proved more troublesome: It took several days for
city officials to be able to access e-mail via the Web, and the
computer that provides public access to top officials' e-mail
remained down.
The Lesson:
Because it was unclear what caused the hardware
malfunction, it's tough to lay specific blame. Still, whether
it's corporations, municipalities or academic institutions, all data is crucial, and losing it
can pose a risk to both operations and security. Organizations must work closely with
their hardware and software vendors to do regular diagnostics and troubleshooting, ensuring
that any problems or potential malfunctions are pinpointed and addressed swiftly.
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