Millions Offline: What Happened When Amazon Web Services Suddenly Collapsed? | World News

Washington: A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday brought much of the internet to a halt. Apps, websites and online tools used by millions of people have stopped working. Hours of analysis revealed how dependent modern life is on cloud infrastructure.

The outage began around 07:11 GMT at one of AWS’s main data centers in Virginia, the company’s oldest and largest site. A technical update to DynamoDB, a cloud database service, caused the problem. The update introduced a bug in the Domain Name System that redirected applications to the correct server addresses. Applications could no longer connect to DynamoDB’s Application Programming Interface (API).

As a result, other AWS services began to fail. A total of 113 services were affected. Amazon said operations had returned to normal as of 10:11 GMT, but the backlog of messages would be processed in the coming hours. Downdetector, which tracks internet outages, showed that problems persist on platforms such as OpenAI, ESPN and Apple Music.

Cloud systems store and run data or programs over the internet rather than on personal devices. AWS allows companies to rent computing power and storage space. DynamoDB, one of its core services, stores critical information such as customer records. Cloud disruptions have become more evident as more and more companies rely on the cloud.

The outage affected multiple industries, but the incident was part of the risks facing tech companies. AWS controls about 30 percent of the cloud market, and users are unlikely to switch providers.

The outage affected a wide range of applications and services. Snapchat, Pinterest, Apple TV, WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom, Slack, Roblox, Fortnite, Xbox, Starbucks and Etsy are affected. Financial apps such as Venmo in the United States have experienced problems.

Ringing doorbells, Alexa speakers, Amazon website and Kindle downloads also failed.

Duolingo, Canva, and media outlets including the Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal reported errors.

Coinbase, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and AI firm Perplexity also encountered problems.

The reason so many services are offline at the same time is because thousands of companies rely on AWS for storage, databases, or web hosting. Such outages often trigger fears of cyberattacks, but most are caused by human error rather than malicious activity.

AWS engineers responded immediately, working on multiple parallel paths to restore service. The main issue has been resolved, although minor delays may persist for some users, the company said. AWS promised to release a detailed post-event summary explaining the outage.