;Resize=(1200,627)&hash=5212147674221e9dfbc7060f1cb6bc3b8e6006622651df4fc0bd8ffa1225289a "Could paralyze everything – That’s why experts are already preparing for the total computer failure in 2038")
Computers now control everything, including critical infrastructure. A glitch in the system in 2038 could mess things up and cause a lot of damage.
Perhaps you still remember the turn of the year into the new millennium: When Year 2000 issue Experts feared that systems could crash or provide incorrect results – with far-reaching consequences in various areas such as finance, energy supply, telecommunications and transport.
As a result, companies and governments around the world invested significant resources in solving this computer bug, and fortunately they did so successfully.
But a similar incident could happen soon, because that Year 2038 issue also has the potential to paralyze large parts of the IT infrastructure. We explain what it’s all about.
That threatens in 2038
The year 2038 problem is a potential one computer security crisis . It results from the way many computer systems store date and time in Unix-based systems. This has been happening in seconds as a 32-bit integer since January 1, 1970.
The 32-bit limit will, however on January 19, 2038 at exactly 4:14 am be reached. Then exactly 2,147,483,647 seconds have passed. There is a risk that systems after this date will no longer be able to display or interpret the time stamp correctly. These would then suddenly reset the timestamp to December 13, 1901.
This could result in malfunctions or failures in various areas such as
- finance
- power supply
- telecommunications
- transport
result when systems are no longer able to provide accurate timestamps or properly log events. Unix-based systems, including all Linux distributions, are often used on servers around the world. More than 600 distributions will then probably die out completely. But the most important ones like Ubuntu or MXLinux are safe.
Preparations are already underway
Companies and governments around the world are currently working to solve the problem by moving to 64-bit systems. These can have a timestamp until for the year 292.277.026.596 – if humanity still exists in its current form.
It is also looking for other solutions to fix year 2038 issue. This includes, for example, using alternative date formats that do not take into account the 32-bit limitation, or using algorithms that solve the problem without switching to the 64-bit operating system.
