Leap Second' Bug Wreaks Havoc Across Web

Many computing systems use what’s called the Network Time Protocol, or NTP, to keep themselves in sync with the world’s atomic clocks, and when an extra second is added, some just don’t know how to handle it.

The “leap second bug” hit such as the web

The “leap second bug” hit such as the web was recovering from a major outage to Amazon Web Services, an online operation that runs as much as one percent of the internet. Some operations, including Google, saw the leap second coming and prepared for it, however others weren’t so diligent.

In September of last year, with a blog post, Google detailed how it deals with leap seconds. The web giant uses a technique is calls “leap smear,” where it by degree adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the official arrive of the leap second.