On October 20, 2025, a massive outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) disrupted essential online services worldwide for nearly 15 hours, affecting everything from social media to banking platforms and educational institutions.
The outage was caused by a DNS resolution failure linked to AWS's infrastructure, revealing the fragile nature of our modern dependence on cloud computing.
Users reported significant access problems across popular applications like Snapchat, Venmo, and Fortnite, highlighting the extensive reach of AWS in everyday life.
The incident prompted widespread discussion about the vulnerabilities within cloud systems and the urgent need for improved resilience and backup strategies to mitigate future disruptions.
As services began to recover, many people reflected on the unexpected experience of a tech-free existence during the downtime, emphasizing society's increasing reliance on digital platforms.
The AWS outage stood out as one of the most significant disruptions to internet services in recent history, reigniting concerns over the critical nature of cloud infrastructures in the global economy.