Amazon cloud computing outage disrupts many online services
By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press
An issue with Amazon’s cloud computing service caused widespread internet disruptions on Monday, affecting various online services such as social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming, and financial platforms.
Amazon Web Services mentioned that they were starting to recover from the problem about three hours after the outage began, although some users continued to experience issues. AWS plays a crucial role in providing cloud computing infrastructure to major organizations worldwide, including government agencies, universities, businesses, and The Associated Press.
Cybersecurity expert Mike Chapple noted that a slow and bumpy recovery process is normal in such situations. As fixes are implemented across the cloud infrastructure, minor disruptions may occur, similar to the intermittent glitches experienced during a large-scale power outage.
The outage was attributed to problems related to Amazon’s domain name system, which converts web addresses into IP addresses for websites and apps to function on internet-connected devices.
Users reported issues with platforms like Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Robinhood, Coinbase, Signal, and Amazon’s own services like Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa-powered smart speakers.
This is not the first time Amazon cloud services have caused widespread disruptions, with notable outages occurring in previous years.
According to AWS, sixty-four internal services were affected by the recent outage, impacting a significant portion of the online infrastructure.
Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert, emphasized the reliance on a few companies for internet infrastructure, making such outages impactful across multiple online services. He highlighted the quick resolution of such issues, typically resolved within hours, without indications of cyberattacks.
Overall, the incident was described as a technology issue that will be addressed by Amazon and other cloud service providers through established processes.
Associated Press videojournalist Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.
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