The Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that struck early Monday morning (Oct. 20) sent shockwaves across the internet. The outage briefly disabled some of the world’s most popular platforms. This includes Coinbase, Robinhood, Reddit, Snapchat, and even Amazon’s own Prime Video.
The event is being called one of AWS’s largest disruptions in years, reigniting urgent discussions about cloud dependency, cybersecurity, and the future of digital resilience.
What Is Amazon Web Services (AWS)?
Amazon Web Services is the backbone of much of the modern internet. It offers cloud computing, data storage, and on-demand servers to millions of organizations worldwide. Rather than operating their own physical infrastructure, companies rent AWS’s computing power — a model that’s fast, scalable, and cost-efficient.
However, that convenience comes with a major caveat: dependence. When AWS goes down, every app or service running on it feels the impact simultaneously.
As Business Insider reported, this latest outage underscores the inherent vulnerability of a digital ecosystem dominated by a handful of cloud giants — AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Amazon Web Services Outage: What Happened
Around dawn on the U.S. East Coast, AWS’s internal networking system suffered a critical malfunction affecting a key database product. Within minutes, platforms like Coinbase, Robinhood, Reddit, Snapchat, and Venmo began reporting issues.
