A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday briefly brought a large part of the internet to a standstill. Popular apps, websites, and online tools used by millions across the world suddenly stopped working — revealing just how deeply the modern web relies on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure.

From banks and airlines to AI tools and entertainment platforms, the hours-long disruption showed how even a single cloud system glitch can affect everyday digital life.

What Exactly Happened — and What Triggered the AWS Outage?

The issue began around 07:11 GMT, when Amazon’s cloud platform experienced a major technical failure. The outage disrupted access to several widely used apps and services — including financial systems, gaming platforms, and online entertainment sites.

The problem originated in one of AWS’s biggest and oldest data centers in Virginia, during a routine update to the API (Application Programming Interface) of DynamoDB — one of Amazon’s core cloud database services. DynamoDB stores massive amounts of data for thousands of businesses, from user profiles to transaction logs.

However, something went wrong during the update. A technical error affected AWS’s Domain Name System (DNS) — the internet’s “phone book” that translates domain names into IP addresses. When the DNS failed to locate the correct server addresses, apps and websites couldn’t find or connect to DynamoDB’s API, causing a chain reaction across dependent services.

In total, 113 AWS services were affected, creating widespread downtime.

Amazon engineers quickly jumped into action, and by 10:11 GMT, the company announced that services were back to normal. However, it warned of a backlog of queued data that would take a few more hours to fully process.

Even after AWS declared the issue resolved, monitoring site Downdetector continued to show ongoing problems for platforms like OpenAI, ESPN, and Apple Music.

Updated look at the total impact of the AWS Outage up to this point!https://t.co/Bgpm1fFGtf pic.twitter.com/TAAxjagNl6

— Downdetector (@downdetector) October 20, 2025

What Is “The Cloud” and Why Does AWS Matter So Much?

When people talk about “the cloud,” they’re referring to storing and running data or applications on remote servers — instead of on local computers or devices.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud provider, allows businesses to rent computing power, storage, and databases. It’s essentially the backbone that runs thousands of apps, websites, and digital platforms you use every day — often without you even realizing it.

For instance, AWS’s DynamoDB database is used by companies to manage everything from customer data to order histories. When DynamoDB went down, any app relying on it was directly impacted.

As Joshua Mahony, Chief Market Analyst at Scope Markets, explained to Al Jazeera:

“The fallout impacted people across different sectors, but that’s part of life for tech companies. The key is resolving it quickly and minimizing the damage.”

He also noted that Amazon would likely recover smoothly, saying:

“AWS controls nearly 30% of the global cloud market. Their users aren’t going to jump ship overnight — most are deeply integrated into Amazon’s ecosystem.”

Which Apps and Services Were Affected?

The AWS outage had a wide and surprising impact, affecting everything from messaging and banking to media streaming and gaming.

According to reports from Downdetector, these platforms faced issues:

• Social & Communication Apps: WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, and Zoom
• Entertainment & Streaming: Apple TV, ESPN, Pinterest, and Snapchat
• Gaming Platforms: Roblox, Fortnite, and Xbox Live
• Retail & Lifestyle: Starbucks and Etsy
• Finance & Banking: Venmo and several U.S. banks
• Crypto & AI: Coinbase and Perplexity AI
• Media Outlets: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Associated Press

Even Amazon’s own products were hit — some users reported Alexa devices and Ring doorbells stopped responding, and Kindle downloads failed temporarily.

Why Did So Many Apps Go Offline at Once?

When AWS goes down, it’s not just Amazon that’s affected. Thousands of companies rely on AWS for essential operations like hosting, databases, and file storage.

So, when the Virginia data center stumbled, a global chain reaction began. Apps and websites hosted on AWS — or those that use its APIs — couldn’t function properly.

This mass disruption led many to wonder if it was a cyberattack or a security breach. But according to Bryson Bort, CEO of cybersecurity firm Scythe, that wasn’t the case.

“Whenever we see these headlines, the first thought that crosses everyone’s mind is, ‘Is this a cyberattack?’” Bort said. “But in this case, and in most cases, it’s not. It’s usually human error.”

How Did Amazon Handle the Situation?

Amazon responded swiftly after detecting the problem. The company confirmed that its engineering teams were “immediately engaged” and worked on “multiple parallel paths to accelerate recovery.”

Within hours, most systems were restored. However, some users continued to experience minor delays as data queues cleared and internal services stabilized.

AWS also promised to publish a detailed post-event summary, explaining exactly what went wrong, what was fixed, and how similar incidents will be prevented in the future.

What This Outage Teaches Us

The AWS outage served as a strong reminder of how dependent the digital world is on cloud infrastructure. A single misconfiguration or system glitch can ripple across industries — from finance and aviation to AI and entertainment.

While such incidents aren’t unusual, they underline the importance of redundant systems, backup servers, and disaster recovery strategies for every business that operates online.

In short:

When one cloud hiccups, the internet catches a cold.

Key Takeaways

• The AWS outage began with a technical update error affecting DynamoDB and DNS systems.
• Over 100 AWS services and dozens of global apps were disrupted.
• The root cause was not a cyberattack, but likely a human error or system misconfiguration.
• AWS quickly restored services and plans to release a detailed postmortem report.
• The incident highlights how critical cloud reliability has become in today’s connected world.