AWS Outage: Amazon Identifies Cause, Services Restored

AWS Outage Disrupts Web Services

A significant outage on Monday impacted Amazon Web Services (AWS), a leading web hosting provider. This disruption affected a wide range of online services, including websites, financial institutions, and even certain governmental operations.

The company provided an initial update on the cause of the problem during the afternoon, stating that restoration efforts were underway. By 6:01 p.m. ET, Amazon confirmed that all AWS services had been fully restored to normal functionality.

Root Cause: DNS Resolution Issues

According to an official announcement on the Amazon website, the core of the issue stemmed from problems with DNS resolution. DNS, or the Domain Name System, is crucial for translating web addresses into the IP addresses necessary for applications and websites to load correctly.

While minor DNS glitches are often quickly resolved, more complex issues can require a more extended period for complete remediation.

“AWS identified increased error rates across multiple services, pinpointing the source to DNS resolution difficulties concerning the DynamoDB API endpoints within the N. Virginia (us-east-1) Region,” the announcement detailed. “The fundamental DNS problem was fully addressed at 2:24 AM PDT.”

Impact and Restoration

Although the initial problem was fixed, Amazon required additional time to “fully restore service,” a process they pursued “as quickly as possible.” The disruption also extended to Amazon.com, its subsidiaries, and AWS customer support operations.

By Monday evening, Eastern time, Amazon reported that the outage had been “fully mitigated,” and the majority of services were returning to their normal operational state after a prolonged period of internet accessibility issues.

Widespread Service Disruptions

Numerous popular applications experienced functionality issues. These included Coinbase, Fortnite, Signal, Perplexity, Venmo, and Zoom. Amazon’s own services, such as its Ring video surveillance products, were also affected.

The outage even impacted devices like Eight Sleep’s cooling pods, causing disturbances for users.

AWS's Significance and Market Share

Millions of businesses and organizations depend on AWS for hosting their websites, applications, and other essential online systems. The company maintains data centers globally.

It is estimated that Amazon controls at least 30% of the overall cloud computing market.

Recent Past Outages

Prior to this incident, a significant global internet outage occurred in 2024. This was triggered by a flawed update to the anti-malware engine from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, leading to widespread computer crashes, airport delays, and extensive outages.

Full system recovery took several days.

In 2021, a malfunction at Akamai, a DNS provider, caused several hours of disruption for major websites like FedEx, Steam, and the PlayStation Network.