AWS Outage Wreaks Havoc on Global Services, Bringing Down Alexa, Venmo, and More

Amazon's AWS Outage Brings Down Popular Services, Including Alexa and Venmo A severe outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) has taken down numerous websites, apps, and services that rely on the cloud division to function. The disruption, which began early Monday morning, affected a wide range of popular software, including Venmo, Snapchat, Canva, Fortnite, and even Amazon's own assistant Alexa. As of 1:15 PM ET on October 20, multiple services remained unavailable, with users unable to access their accounts or use features such as asking Alexa for the weather or controlling smart home devices. The Lyft app was also slower to respond than usual, while Venmo displayed alerts indicating that they were aware of issues affecting their service. According to AWS's service health page, the outage was caused by a DNS resolution issue with its DynamoDB API in the US-EAST-1 region, which includes data centers in Northern Virginia. The problem was identified at 5:01 AM ET on Monday, but as of the latest update, the issue had not been resolved. "We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," an AWS spokesperson said in a statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your patience." The outage highlights the critical role that cloud services play in modern technology. With more and more companies relying on AWS and other cloud providers, even brief disruptions can have significant consequences. "Cloud outages are not uncommon, but they do underscore the importance of having robust backup systems and disaster recovery plans in place," said Mark Milligan, a cloud computing expert at Gartner. "Companies need to be prepared for these kinds of events and have contingency plans in place to minimize downtime." The AWS outage is also a reminder of the interconnectedness of modern technology. When one service goes down, it can have far-reaching consequences, affecting not just users but also businesses that rely on those services. As the situation continues to unfold, AWS has promised to provide updates on its service health page. Users affected by the outage are advised to check their accounts and services regularly for any updates or notifications from the companies they use. In the meantime, it remains to be seen how long the outage will last and what steps AWS will take to prevent similar disruptions in the future. *Reporting by Engadget.*