Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud provider, experienced a major outage on Monday that disrupted more than a thousand companies and left millions of people unable to access everyday online services. Social platforms stalled, online banking stumbled, and popular games went offline — all because a single piece of digital infrastructure went down.
A Global Digital Giant Stumbled
AWS has long positioned itself as the backbone of the internet. It supplies the computing power, storage, and networking capabilities behind roughly a third of online services. Most users never interact with AWS directly, but thousands of organisations rely on it — including household names such as Snapchat, Reddit, Roblox, and major UK banks like Lloyds and Halifax.
That’s why when AWS falters, the effects cascade.
The Core Issue: A DNS Failure
According to Amazon, the outage was triggered by a Domain Name System (DNS) error at its massive northern Virginia data centre — its oldest and most heavily used site.
DNS acts like the internet’s address book. When you open an app or click a link, your device uses DNS to locate the correct server. On Monday, AWS’s DNS service effectively “lost the map.”
The platforms themselves were still functioning, but AWS couldn’t correctly route traffic to them.
For tech workers, DNS issues are infamous for being deceptively simple yet universally disruptive — hence the industry joke: “It’s always DNS.”
Why the Outage Hit So Hard
A DNS glitch isn’t unusual, and it can stem from routine maintenance, a misconfiguration, or a server fault. AWS hasn’t indicated that cybercrime was involved, and there’s currently no evidence of an attack.
The real problem is scale.
AWS supports millions of businesses. When its routing breaks, a significant portion of the internet breaks with it. The disruption highlighted the risks of relying so heavily on a single cloud provider — a concern that experts have repeatedly raised.
Limited Alternatives
While some argue that businesses should diversify their cloud infrastructure, the reality is that only two companies operate at a similar global scale: Microsoft Azureand Google Cloud.
Smaller providers do exist — such as IBM, Alibaba, and solutions like Stackit, launched in Europe by the parent company of Lidl — but none come close to AWS’s dominance.
This means companies often end up putting “all their eggs in one basket,” not because they want to, but because few viable alternatives exist.
A Wake-Up Call for UK and European Infrastructure
The outage reignited debate about the heavy dependence on US-based cloud giants. Some policymakers argue the UK and Europe should build their own large-scale cloud platforms. Others believe it’s too late — the US major players are simply too far ahead.
One government insider once recalled an MP suggesting a British version of AWS, only to be met with the response: “Why bother? AWS already exists.”
Monday’s disruption demonstrated why that mindset may be flawed. When a single American data centre experiences a glitch, digital life across multiple continents can grind to a halt.
The Bigger Picture
The AWS outage was not catastrophic — but it was deeply inconvenient for millions, and a stark reminder of how centralised the modern internet has become. A single DNS error was enough to disrupt banks, social networks, gaming platforms, and public services.
The incident leaves one lingering question:
If one company underpins so much of the digital world, how fragile does that make our online infrastructure?