Trend Analyses of Failures in Information Systems: A Case Study on Communications Networks and Financial Information Systems

Advanced information technology offers greater convenience to the general public. However, information technology can cause failures that have significant negative impacts (e.g., system failures and personal information leaks). To improve this situation, it is important to understand past failures, extract their causes, and define countermeasures. In this paper, we focus on communications networks and financial information systems, and collect and analyze publicly available data on failure cases during a 15-year period. The analysis results allow us to identify the most important issues and describe countermeasures to mitigate potential negative impacts.