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Business & Economics
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The Unlikely Saboteurs: How Squirrels Crashed the Nasdaq Stock Market Twice
Did you know the high-tech Nasdaq market was halted not by hackers, but by squirrels? In 1987 and 1994, these furry rodents chewed through power lines, causing significant outages and reminding Wall Street that even the most complex systems are vulnerable to nature's simplest problems.
In the world of high finance, we imagine threats to be sophisticated and complex: elaborate cyberattacks, geopolitical crises, or sudden market crashes. The reality, however, can sometimes be far more mundane and, frankly, a lot furrier. Believe it or not, the high-tech Nasdaq stock market, a symbol of modern digital commerce, was brought to its knees not once, but twice, by a common backyard squirrel.
The Great Squirrel Blackout of 1987
The first incident occurred on a December day in 1987. The Nasdaq's main computer center, located in Trumbull, Connecticut, suddenly went dark. Traders were left staring at frozen screens as the entire market ground to a halt. The cause wasn't a malicious hacker or a catastrophic system failure. It was a single, adventurous squirrel that had chewed through a primary power line supplying electricity to the facility. The outage lasted for a staggering 82 minutes, a lifetime in the fast-paced world of stock trading. A Nasdaq spokesman at the time confirmed the bizarre culprit to the press:
It was a squirrel that got into a transformer and blew the transformer. It's a problem for the utility companies. Obviously, we are dependent on them.
The event highlighted a surprising vulnerability in the financial world's infrastructure. While billions were spent on digital security, the system was ultimately reliant on a power grid susceptible to the whims of local wildlife.
History Repeats Itself in 1994
One would assume that after such a peculiar event, measures would be taken to prevent a recurrence. And they were. But squirrels, as it turns out, are persistent. In 1994, it happened again. Another curious squirrel caused a power failure in Shelton, Connecticut, which again disrupted the Nasdaq's operations. This time, the market was down for 34 minutes. The incident proved that the 1987 event wasn't just a fluke but a genuine, albeit unusual, operational risk.
Wall Street's Furriest Menace
These Nasdaq incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. Squirrels are one of the leading causes of power outages across the United States. Their incisor teeth grow continuously, compelling them to gnaw on hard objects to wear them down. Unfortunately for our electrical grid, power cables and transformers make for excellent chewing material. The American Public Power Association (APPA) has even noted that squirrels are the most frequent cause of animal-related power outages. There's even a project called 'Cyber Squirrel 1' that humorously tracks all known power outages caused by animals to highlight how often it happens compared to cyberattacks.
Following the second incident, Nasdaq invested heavily in backup power systems and worked with utility providers to implement better 'squirrel-proofing' measures around critical infrastructure. While today's systems are far more resilient, the story serves as a powerful and amusing reminder: no matter how advanced our technology becomes, we're still part of a world where a tiny rodent can halt the flow of billions of dollars.