Amazon Web Services Outage Disrupts Global Internet, Reveals Tech Dependence
A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon, disrupted a host of major websites and apps, and left thousands of businesses worldwide in limbo. The disruption, which occurred on Monday, was attributed to a failure in the AWS Domain Name System (DNS). The fallout from the computer crash expanded rapidly, affecting multiple platforms including Snapchat, Duolingo, Zoom, Roblox, and Fortnite, as well as clients of banks like Lloyds and trading platforms Coinbase and Robinhood. The incident has highlighted the global reliance on tech giants like Amazon and the vulnerabilities that come with it.
The Outage and Its Impact
AWS provides on-demand computing power, data storage, and other digital services to millions of websites and platforms of large companies. When the AWS outage occurred, it affected thousands of digital services worldwide. According to Downdetector, a platform outage checker, the issues impacted more than 1,000 different businesses.
Several popular apps and platforms were left inactive or experienced connectivity issues. Notably, AI startup Perplexity, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and trading app Robinhood attributed the outages to AWS. Furthermore, thousands of users reportedly experienced issues with Mercado Pago due to the AWS failure, with Downdetector recording peaks of complaints in Argentina.
Global Dependence on AWS
The outage has shed light on the significant global reliance on AWS. The UK government's £1.7bn reliance on Amazon was exposed, showing the risk of deepening ties with tech giants despite warnings from the UK's own regulators, including the Treasury. The Guardian points to a meeting between Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy and Keir Starmer in Downing Street’s garden in June, during which a £40bn investment in the UK was announced.
The Recovery and Remaining Questions
Despite the wide-ranging disruption, AWS reported that it had made significant
progress in resolving the issue, with normal service beginning to resume by midday on Monday. While the exact cause of the outage remains unknown, AWS said it had pinpointed the issues to a specific part of its operation servicing the US east coast.
The global outage marked the first major internet disruption since the malfunction of CrowdStrike last year, according to Folha de S.Paulo. This incident, however, was not the first time AWS had encountered such a problem. Russia Today reported that a similar large-scale outage had occurred in July 2024.
Conclusion
The AWS outage, which disrupted digital services worldwide, has been resolved. However, the incident has underscored the global dependence on Amazon's cloud services, highlighting potential vulnerabilities in the world's digital infrastructure. The outage has sparked conversations about the risks of such dependence on a few tech giants, and the need for robust contingency plans in the event of future disruptions.