>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 10:24:07 -0700
>To:
>From: Jamais Cascio
>Subject: the problem is worse than you think
>
>regarding data integrity, from RISKS:
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 10:14:17 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Fred Cohen
>Subject: HP200 data integrity woes
>
>I just had an amazing conversation with Hewlett Packard's support services.
>
>My HP200 lost it's mind this morning and corrupted the content of it's RAM
>disk. I was able to reboot the computer and get a copy of the data onto a
>PCMCIA memory card and put it onto other computers at my site. The next step
>was to try to recover the content, so naturally, I called HP's support line.
>
>They told me that the palmtop computers they were selling only a few months
>ago used formats for their calendar and quicken databases that they did not
>know how to read. They claimed that they went directly to their own
>engineers who had designed the products and that these folks did not know
>what the data formats were - even for their own proprietary file formats!
>
>I guess it's the end of an era when a company with a long reputation for
>high quality and reliability doesn't even know how their own products work.
>
>I guess I'll just have to hack their software to get my data back.
>
> [Added later:]
>
>So I tried to call Intuit to get technical support for data recovery from
>corrupt pocket quicken data files, and wouldn't you know...
>
>The Intuit Web page refers you to HP for support of the HP-based quicken
>products, but as we already know, HP doesn't know the format information
>required for file recovery. So next I tried the number for Intuit's corporate
>headquarters as posted on their Web page - 1-800-446-8848
>
>But lo and behold, the area code for the area I live in recently changed
>from 510 to 925, so apparently the phone switch at quicken decided I was
>calling from Canada. Instead of technical support, I got a new telephone
>number to call that was toll-free from Canada - but of course it doesn't
>work from the United States.
>
>Next I tried the operator (not the quicken operator - no such option on
>their answering machine and buttins like 0 don't work) and got a number in
>Mountain View for the real Quicken headquarters - which I called. Naturally,
>I finally did get an operator - and I found out that there is a number for
>quicken technical people - it's 520-618-7292 - but the operator told me that
>it wouldn't help to have the number today (Thursday) since all the employees
>were having a party today to celebrate that 15th anniversary of the founding
>of the company. I tried anyway and got a fast busy signal.
>
>So my denial of service was caused by:
>
> A human design failure in my willingness to trust a computer with my
> upcoming appointments.
>
> A hardware failure in a palmtop computer.
>
> A software failure in the inability to read the hardware-corrupted files.
>
> A business failure by HP not having the necessary information on
> their own products.
>
> An information failure in the Intuit Web page not leading you to
> technical support that knows the answer to your questions.
>
> An infrastructure failure in the telephone system deciding I am from
> Canada.
>
> A business model failure in my expectation that during normal
> business hours a company that is supposed to be a major player in a
> financial industry would be available to support their products.
>AND
> A support failure in that they were not available to support their product.
>
>The probability of all of this set of events must be astronomically small by
>the calculations of any competent risk analysis system, but that just goes
>to show you - tightly coupled systems with interdependencies... yada yada
>yada
>
>As a postscript, by now I have recovered most of my data -- using an old
>fashioned text editor and the normal tools available from Unix. Under DOS
>or Windows there was no hope.
>
>Fred Cohen & Associates: http://all.net
-
>
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>