Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) cloud unit AWS has issued an apology and outlined an explanation for the major outage that affected over 1,000 websites and services on Monday.
The outage affected a significant number of websites and services, including Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP), Disney+ (NYSE:DIS), Reddit (NYSE:RDDT), and Lloyds Bank (NYSE:LYG).
AWS Blames Rare Software Bug For Outage
In a detailed explanation on Thursday, AWS said the outage was a cascading failure triggered by a rare software bug in one of the company's most critical systems. The issue was centered in the Northern Virginia region, home to US-EAST-1, AWS’s largest cluster of data centers.
“We apologize for the impact this event caused our customers…We know this event impacted many customers in significant ways,” the company stated.
AWS said that a “faulty automation” in its internal systems — two independent programs that began racing each other to update records — erased key network entries for its DynamoDB database service, triggering a domino effect that temporarily broke many other AWS tools.
While platforms like Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) and Fortnite were back online within a few hours, others like Lloyds Bank, U.S. payments app Venmo, and social media site Reddit experienced extended downtime.
“We will do everything we can to learn from this event and use it to improve our availability even further,” stated AWS.
AWS also said it has turned off the flawed automation worldwide and will fix the bug before bringing it back online.
Big Tech Power Concentration Sparks Concerns
This incident has sparked a conversation about the concentration of power in Big Tech and the potential risks of a single company’s infrastructure supporting a significant portion of the internet, and the need for alternatives.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for the breakup of Big Tech following the incident. The outage raised concerns about the reliance on a single cloud provider and the potential risks associated with such a dependency.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk announced that X operates independently of AWS and is fully encrypted.
Amazon holds a momentum rating of 65.94% and a growth rating of 92.76%, according to Benzinga's Proprietary Edge Rankings. Check the detailed report here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
