Amazon Cloud Outage Disrupts Global Internet Services for Hours

How Did Amazon’s Cloud Outage Impact Major Platforms Worldwide?

Millions of users across the globe experienced widespread internet disruptions on Monday after a major outage hit Amazon’s cloud computing network, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The incident temporarily took down popular streaming, gaming, messaging, and banking platforms, highlighting just how deeply connected the online world is to Amazon’s cloud infrastructure.

The outage affected streaming giants such as Prime Video and Disney+, alongside other major services like Fortnite, Airbnb, Snapchat, and Duolingo. Messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp also faced interruptions, particularly across Europe, according to Downdetector. Even Amazon’s own e-commerce platform struggled to stay online during the disruption.

Several banks, including Lloyd’s, confirmed they were impacted and attributed the issue to AWS. Amazon later reported that the affected system had returned to “pre-event levels,” though it warned that clearing the backlog of data requests would take several more hours.

Downdetector logged more than 11 million reports of AWS-related problems, with a massive spike recorded early Monday and another surge later in the day. Amazon identified the root cause as a Domain Name System (DNS) malfunction, which disrupted its Network Load Balancer — a key component that directs data traffic. The company said engineers throttled certain operations to stabilize performance while restoring full service.

AWS controls nearly one-third of the global cloud infrastructure market, powering millions of websites and applications across various industries. The outage underscored how dependent businesses, governments, and consumers are on a handful of tech giants that manage the internet’s backbone.

“This shows how reliant we all are on the likes of Amazon, as well as Microsoft and Alphabet, for many of the online services we more or less take for granted,” said financial analyst Michael Hewson. “On an economic level, it’s almost akin to putting all of your economic eggs in one basket.”

Could Expanding Cloud Reliance Make Future Outages Worse?

AWS remains the leader in global cloud services, followed closely by Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Monday’s incident even affected British government websites, further emphasizing the global scale of the issue.

“Major providers like AWS going down represent vulnerabilities in what have become critical infrastructure for organizations and, in some cases, governments globally,” noted Emarketer senior analyst Jacob Bourne. “As cloud reliance and workloads expand, these outages could hit industries harder.”

The disruption follows a similar global outage in July 2024 when a faulty update from U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused widespread system crashes across airports, hospitals, and other sectors. Microsoft later revealed that the error affected 8.5 million devices, leaving users with the infamous “blue screen of death.”

Monday’s AWS outage serves as another reminder of the risks of centralized cloud dependency and the growing need for more resilient digital infrastructure.

By Yockshard Enyendi