A catastrophic Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage struck on October 20, 2025, bringing down major platforms like Snapchat, Amazon Prime Video, and Canva, and revealing the internet’s dangerous dependence on a single cloud provider.
Starting at 12:11 a.m. PDT (12:41 p.m. IST), a DNS resolution failure in AWS’s US-East-1 region in Northern Virginia triggered widespread disruptions, freezing apps, websites, and critical services for millions globally.
Though resolved by midday, the incident sparked urgent calls for diversifying digital infrastructure to prevent future chaos.
The Trigger: A DNS Disaster
The outage originated in AWS’s DynamoDB, a vital database service powering thousands of applications. At 12:11 a.m. PDT, engineers detected elevated error rates tied to a DNS resolution failure, severing connections between users and AWS’s network gateways in US-East-1.
This region, hosting over 100 data centers, serves as a global routing hub, amplifying the failure’s impact.
The breakdown cascaded to core services like Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3), paralyzing dependent platforms.
By 3:00 a.m. ET (12:30 p.m. IST), outage trackers reported tens of thousands of complaints as Snapchat messages stalled, Prime Video streams buffered endlessly, and Canva projects became inaccessible. Even financial and healthcare systems faced delays, underscoring the outage’s severity.
Timeline of the Meltdown
AWS’s Service Health Dashboard tracked the crisis as engineers raced to restore stability:
- 12:11 a.m. PDT (12:41 p.m. IST): AWS flags DynamoDB errors, pinpointing a DNS-related gateway failure.
- 2:00 a.m. PDT (2:30 p.m. IST): Partial recovery shows progress, but errors persist across services.
- 3:35 a.m. ET (1:05 p.m. IST): The core issue is resolved, though full recovery lags due to propagation delays.
- 6:45 a.m. ET (4:15 p.m. IST): Most services stabilize, but high-traffic apps report slowdowns.
- Noon ET (9:30 p.m. IST): AWS declares the outage fixed, though users note lingering glitches.
On X, #AWSOutage trended worldwide, with users venting: “AWS broke the internet—Snapchat’s gone, Roblox crashed, Canva’s useless.” Another warned, “Hospitals on AWS? That’s a recipe for disaster.”
With AWS powering a third of the cloud market, the outage hit hard across sectors. Snapchat and Reddit users faced login failures and stalled feeds. Prime Video, Fortnite, and Roblox suffered streaming halts and server disconnections.
Canva users, from students to designers, lost access to critical projects. Amazon’s retail platform saw payment delays, while financial apps like Robinhood faltered, alarming traders.
Most alarmingly, some healthcare systems reported disruptions, raising concerns about cloud reliance for critical operations. Businesses faced millions in losses, with small firms and creators hit hardest by stalled workflows.
US-East-1’s role as a global hub magnified the outage, as international services routing through it for speed were crippled.
Experts now push for multi-cloud or hybrid strategies, though these are challenging for smaller firms. Regulators may demand stricter oversight, given AWS’s role in essential sectors like healthcare and finance.
As services resumed, the outage left lasting lessons. Businesses must diversify infrastructure, while consumers demand clearer outage communication. One X user summed it up: “AWS goes down, and I can’t work or watch TV.
This is our reality.” AWS is expected to release a postmortem, but the incident underscores a critical truth: our digital world’s strength hinges on a fragile thread. Diversifying cloud reliance is now essential to prevent future disruptions.
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