Johannesburg, South Africa – The internet felt a little emptier today as a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage caused disruptions across several popular online platforms. Snapchat, Roblox, and Lloyds Bank were among the services affected, leaving users frustrated and highlighting the fragility of our reliance on a handful of internet giants.
The Ripple Effect of Centralised Services
As cyber security experts have warned, the concentration of internet services in the hands of a few major players creates a significant risk. When one of these giants experiences a glitch, the impact is felt far and wide. This outage serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of placing 'too many eggs in one basket'.
Recent History of Major Outages
This isn't the first time a single point of failure has brought parts of the internet to its knees. Here are a few recent examples:
- 2024: A faulty code update in CrowdStrike cyber security software triggered the dreaded 'blue screen of death' on millions of computers, disrupting numerous internet services. Approximately 8.5 million computers were affected.
- 2021: A 'configuration error' brought down Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for nearly six hours. Other sites, including X (formerly Twitter), experienced disruptions due to the surge in traffic as users flocked to alternative platforms.
- 2021: Amazon, Reddit, Twitch, GitHub, Shopify, Spotify, and various news sites suffered an outage of approximately one hour due to a previously unknown bug triggered at cloud computing service provider Fastly.
- 2020: Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, and other Google services experienced a simultaneous outage of around 90 minutes due to an 'internal storage quota issue'.
The Race to Restore Service
In most cases, engineers work tirelessly to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, often implementing fixes 'on the fly'. While outages are often resolved within a few hours, they serve as a wake-up call about the interconnectedness and potential vulnerabilities of the modern internet.
What Does This Mean For South Africa?
South African businesses and individuals are increasingly reliant on these global platforms. Outages like this highlight the need for robust contingency plans and a greater awareness of the risks associated with centralised internet services. Diversification of cloud providers and a focus on local infrastructure could help mitigate the impact of future disruptions.