Dictionary of Information Security

Y

Y2K reference to the situation when the year changed

from 1999 to 2000, and the concern that time-

sensitive systems using two-digit year date fields

would fail, or behave unpredictably, when that hap-

pened. Aside from the massive exercise in retrofitting

systems, a major security concern was that the

urgent redevelopment and patching of large num-

bers of systems would create loopholes and vulnera-

bilities. It should be noted that, due to the patching

practice known as windowing, an unknown number

of systems may still be vulnerable to failure as they

reach the end of their windowing range.

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