If you’ve had trouble logging in, ordering online, or even yelling at Alexa today, you’re not alone. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is experiencing a significant outage in its US-East-1 region, and it’s causing widespread disruptions across the internet.

Fortnite froze mid-game, Snapchat and Canva stopped, and businesses reliant on AWS suddenly found themselves sitting in the dark. Even major platforms like Coinbase and Perplexity are reporting issues.

What’s Going On?

AWS has confirmed increased error rates and latency for several services, particularly in the US-East-1 region. The root cause is still under investigation, but the impact is massive.

This isn’t the first time AWS has faced such challenges. In 2017, a mistyped command during a routine debugging exercise led to a significant outage. While the specifics of today’s issue remain unclear, it’s a reminder of the complexities involved in managing vast cloud infrastructures.

Why It Matters

This outage isn’t just an inconvenience; with over 15,000 users affected globally, including major platforms like Coinbase and Perplexity, the impact is huge and the ripple effects are felt far and wide.

When AWS, a cornerstone of the modern internet, stumbles, it highlights the fragility of our digital dependencies. Businesses relying heavily on a single cloud provider without adequate contingency plans are particularly vulnerable.

What Businesses Should Do

1. Determine which of your services are affected and communicate transparently with your customers.
2. Evaluate your multi-region and multi-cloud strategies. Can your workloads shift seamlessly if one region goes down?
3. AWS has faced outages before. Review their post-event summaries to understand previous issues and how they were addressed.
4. Consider implementing failover mechanisms, backup systems, and regular stress tests to ensure your infrastructure can withstand future disruptions.

Final Thoughts

Today’s AWS outage serves is a reminder of the complexities and risks associated with centralised cloud infrastructures. While cloud services offer scalability and efficiency, they also introduce single points of failure. As businesses continue to migrate to the cloud, it’s crucial to prioritise resilience and preparedness.

Assuming the cloud will always be "on" is a risky proposition. Planning for when it isn’t can make all the difference.