A significant disruption in Amazon Web Services (AWS) operations on Monday left numerous high-profile websites and applications inaccessible, highlighting the vulnerabilities of relying on a single cloud provider. Platforms such as Snapchat, Reddit, Roblox, and banking services like Lloyds and Halifax were among the more than 1,000 services affected, according to Downdetector, a platform outage monitor. User reports of issues surged to over 6.5 million during the outage, which began around 07:00 BST and persisted for much of the day. While Amazon later announced that the core issue had been resolved, some services continued to experience problems, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of such disruptions. The outage, attributed to a DNS resolution issue with the DynamoDB API endpoint in the US-EAST-1 region, exposed the fragility of the internet’s infrastructure. Experts like Professor Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey emphasized the interdependence of online services, noting that even minor errors in third-party infrastructure can have widespread impacts. Mike Chapple, an IT professor at Notre Dame University, likened the situation to a power outage, where initial fixes might address symptoms rather than root causes. The incident has reignited debates about the concentration of cloud computing power among a few dominant providers—Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—which collectively control an estimated 70% of the market. Critics, including Cori Crider of the Future of Technology Institute, argue that this reliance poses risks to security, sovereignty, and economic stability, advocating for greater diversification and local alternatives. Meanwhile, Ken Birman, a computer science professor at Cornell University, pointed out that companies using AWS must also take responsibility by implementing robust backup systems for mission-critical applications. The outage serves as a stark reminder of the need for resilience in the face of technological dependencies, as the fallout from such disruptions can have lasting economic and operational consequences.
Amazon services ‘recovering’ as Snapchat and banks among sites hit by outage
