Millions of people on October 20 were unable to use Snapchat, Fortnite, Roblox, Duolingo, and Ring. The reason is a technical failure in the operation of Amazon Web Services (AWS).
UNN reports with reference to Down Detector and Daily Mail.
Details
This morning, a global "hang" appeared on the Internet. Popular platforms, everyday tools, as well as various entertainment and games are not working all over the world. Among them: Roblox, Fortnite, Snapchat, PlayStation Network, Duolingo, and Ring.
Down Detector explained that the situation was provoked by a large-scale failure in Amazon Web Services (AWS). The cloud computing platform is unavailable to thousands of users worldwide.
Reference
Amazon Web Services is the foundation of a huge part of the modern Internet, and not just a technical name with an abstract interpretation. Tens of thousands of companies rent Amazon's computing power and servers to operate their services. But it also happens that AWS fails. This, in turn, affects entire segments of the network.
Even artificial intelligence services like Perplexity have been affected, demonstrating the absolute central role of AWS, media write.
Global internet outage - not a cyberattack?
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at ESET, explained what caused today's situation. According to the expert, this failure is related to an "internal error." The cybersecurity expert does not yet see the actions of hackers. However, a cyberattack cannot be ruled out.
A cyberattack cannot be ruled out until AWS publishes a full report after the incident
Recall
China accused the US of a cyberattack on the National Time Service Center, which could damage communications, finance, and power supply. The US National Security Agency allegedly conducted an operation since 2022, stealing data and credentials.