How to prepare for outages that impact our online lives

Amazon Web Services Outage Disrupts Online Platforms Worldwide

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — An Amazon Web Services outage on Monday caused disruptions to various online platforms, affecting access to banks, chatting apps, online food ordering, and more around the world.

While system outages like these are usually short-lived and minor inconveniences, they can still be stressful for those trying to manage money, communicate, or work using impacted services. This outage serves as a reminder of how many platforms rely on the same back-end technology like AWS, emphasizing the importance of diversifying our online presence and having backup alternatives.

Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, advises against putting all your digital assets in one place in light of these outages.

Here are some tips to prepare for disruptions:

1. Keep Your Money in Multiple Places

During the AWS outage, users reported issues with platforms like Venmo and Robinhood, as well as some banks. To alleviate stress during financial disruptions, experts recommend spreading your money across different accounts, including having an emergency savings account and keeping some physical cash on hand.

Having multiple financial accounts can provide access to funds even during service outages. While digital banking apps may be offline, in-person visits or phone calls to representatives could still be options.

2. Have Backup Communication Channels

Monday’s outage also affected communication platforms like Snapchat and Signal. Experts suggest having backup plans to reach loved ones, such as maintaining contacts for SMS texting and being prepared for traditional phone calls in case of broader internet disruptions.

3. Save Your Work Across Multiple Platforms

Building a personal multi-cloud strategy for storing work or projects across platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud can help mitigate disruptions. Monitoring service updates and checking outage trackers can also provide insights into ongoing issues and potential workarounds.

After recovery, it’s recommended to review any payments, online orders, or messages sent during or after the outage to ensure everything went through successfully.

If you have suggestions for future tech topics, email us at onetechtip@ap.org.