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From the BBCs coverage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37979456 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37979456), it seems like the problem was caused by a contractor set
by nneonneo 10y ago
From the BBCs coverage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37979456 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37979456), it seems like the problem was caused by a contractor setting up a full-org distribution list by mistake. This DL would have appeared as a single (unfamiliar) email address to most recipients, making it less obvious that "reply-all" would actually send a message to a million receipients.
The NHS resolved the issue by killing the offending DL reasonably quickly, which would stop further replies from being generated. This is also the reason why only about a hundred folks (out of a million) replied-all to the message.
- OskarS 10y agoMan, i have such sympathy for that nameless engineer whose fault it was. I know exactly the fight-or-flight-like feeling of "oh shit, I fucked up!", even though I've never fucked up on this massive scale.
- nthcolumn 10y agoNot the contractors fault at all! People make mistakes. If your design depends on user vigilance then its YOUR fault. People make mistakes! A single 'rogue' should not be able to take down the entire show just by sending an email. The problem was exacerbated mainly the software being used made by Microsoft - a fairly ubiquitous but non-standard, proprietary system. It has no place in a public entity like the NHS. Sack the highly paid idiots who procured it at great expense over cheaper and higher quality alternatives instead.