Imagine a city where the internet stops working for a whole day. Everything slows down because the internet is like the heart of our daily life. This happened in Jacksonville, a city in the US, in September 2024. Many important services, like schools and shops, couldn’t work properly because of a big internet problem like Jacksonville Computer Network Issue.
Even though it’s been a few months, we need to learn from this. By understanding what went wrong, we can make sure this doesn’t happen again in Jacksonville or any other city. This way, people won’t face big problems or get upset because of internet breakdowns.
What actually happened?
September 11, 2024, could have been any other day for the millions of people living in the Jacksonville city of Florida. Probably many may have felt a sense of sadness in their remembrance of the thousands of innocent victims who lost their lives in the deadly September 11 terrorist attack. But it turned out that September 11 will be remembered for another inauspicious event that brought the lives of Jacksonville residents to a grinding halt.
In Jacksonville, things went wrong when people couldn’t use the city’s websites. It was like the internet took a nap! This stopped all the work in the city’s offices, making it hard for them to help people.
In Jacksonville, the internet stopped working for important places like the fire station, courts, and tax offices. People thought it was a small problem that would be fixed quickly, like when a toy needs new batteries. But they soon found out it was a much bigger issue, and it took longer to fix.
Some people thought bad guys broke the internet in Jacksonville, like in a spy movie! But the police and FBI said, “No, it’s not hackers.” The real problem was a broken computer part, like when a toy breaks and stops working. This part was super important, and when it broke, it made a big mess for the city’s websites and phones. They fixed most of it in a couple of days, but it showed the city needs newer computer stuff to avoid this trouble again.
The Jacksonville Computer Network Issue in September 2024 wasn’t caused by just one problem, but by several issues working together to create a big mess. Here are the main reasons:
However, before moving to the next section, let’s first briefly look into the impact of the incident.
- Complete service disruption: In Jacksonville, when the internet broke, people couldn’t use important city websites like Jacksonville.gov or Jaxready.com. It was like their favorite apps stopped working! Even the city’s phone app didn’t work for almost two days. This made everyone annoyed because they couldn’t do things like pay bills or get help. It was a big problem
- Emergency services impacted: In Jacksonville, when the internet stopped working, some emergency helpers had trouble. The fire department’s special computers in their trucks didn’t work right, so it was harder for them to help people fast. The 630-CITY phone number, where people call to report problems like broken streets, also stopped working. It made things tough for everyone until they fixed it.
- Operational Disruption: When the internet broke in Jacksonville, city offices like courts had to use paper and pens instead of computers. It was like going back to old-school ways! This made their work super slow and tricky, and it took longer to help people. Everyone was a bit grumpy because of it.
- Financial Loss: When the internet stopped working in Jacksonville for almost two days, it cost the city a lot of money, maybe millions! City offices couldn’t collect taxes or do other important jobs, and businesses had to wait to get things done. It was like losing a big piggy bank because everything stopped working.
What made the big internet problem happen in Jacksonville?
The big internet trouble in Jacksonville happened because of a few problems. The people who fix things found out what went wrong.
- Aging infrastructure: The big internet problem in Jacksonville happened because the city’s computers were super old, like toys that are worn out and break easily. Things like routers and servers, which help the internet work, hadn’t been replaced in forever. When they got too old, they stopped working and caused a big mess.
- Human error: The big internet problem in Jacksonville might have happened because someone made a mistake. Sometimes, people working on computers can accidentally change something important, like pressing the wrong button. This can mess up the internet and stop websites from working, causing a big problem for everyone.
- Network congestion and low bandwidth issue: The internet in Jacksonville got too crowded, like a road with too many cars. The city’s internet wasn’t strong enough to handle so many people using it at once, especially when everyone was online. This made things slow down or stop working, causing a big problem for the city.
What are the major lessons learned?
Let’s now look at the main problem. It’s clear that we can learn many important lessons from this big problem.
As said earlier, these lessons will help us stop the same thing from happening again in the future. They can also help protect people from pain and stop big money losses.
Checking Systems Often and Carefully:
One clear lesson from the Jacksonville computer problem is that we must always check our computer systems before something goes wrong. Watching the systems closely can help in many ways.
First, it helps find small problems before they become big ones and shut everything down. Second, it shows if any important parts, like routers or servers, need to be changed quickly.
Government offices should check and take care of their computer systems at least once every six months.
Build better and safer technology
All government offices should buy only good quality computer tools, like servers, routers, software, cables, and switches. They should not buy cheap or weak ones because those can break easily and stop working during problems.
Good quality computer products last a long time and do not need much fixing.
Have our own IT team or hire another company?
All city offices should try to have their own IT team. This team will check and take care of the computer systems. They should hire the best and most experienced people to make sure everything works well.
If it is too expensive to have their own IT team, city offices should ask a trusted outside company to take care of their computers.
Spend money on strong backup systems
All local and government offices must always save a copy of their important files and papers. They should save these copies on external hard drives (like special memory boxes). This will help make sure they can still get their important files even if there is a big problem or power failure.
Improving how people work together when things go wrong
All government offices should have clear rules for talking and working during a power or network problem. Workers need special training to handle these kinds of emergencies. This will help fix problems quickly, keep services running, and make sure people still trust the government.
