What are some notable blunders in history that resulted in huge loss?

Bady@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 306 points –

Loss in terms of money or efforts. Could be recent or ancient.

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Knight Capital - They were biggest equities trader in 2012. They manually deployed code and didn't get configuration right and it reactivated "Powder Peg". They lost $460 M in 45 minutes and went bankrupt.

The program was called "Power Peg" for those googling for it. It was a test program not intended to be used on the live market.

The Power Peg program was designed to buy a stock at its ask price, and then immediately sell it again at the bid price, losing the value of the spread.

The Worst Computer Bugs in History: Losing $460m in 45 minutes

Thanks for sharing. This is exactly the kind of blunder I had in my mind when asking the question, a seemingly silly mistake like forgetting to do something causing way too much trouble!

It's actually a good case for why you needed devops and an automated build/release

Talk about a Nanosecond Buyout!