On Tuesday, the huge internet outage closed down websites, apps, and online services around the globe; the company behind it apologized for creating such an expensive mistake.
On Tuesday, Fastly, the company that operates the content delivery network of various servers and data centers, in a statement, said how they work to ensure that this type of widespread outage does not happen in the future.
Nick Rockwell, the engineering and infrastructure senior vice president of Fastly, in a statement, said:
“Even though there were specific conditions that triggered this outage, we should have anticipated it…We provide mission-critical services, and we treat any action that can cause service issues with the utmost sensitivity and priority. We apologize to our customers and those who rely on them for the outage.”
Various apps and sites like the New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, and many more are supported by Fastly.
Moreover, Fastly presents content delivery for platforms like Pinterest, Twitch, HBO Mac, Spotify, and many other huge platforms.
On Tuesday morning, a 49-minute outage closed down many huge internet platforms and sites like Target, Amazon, and Gov. UK, the UK government website.
Moreover, it affected many countries like South Africa, Asia, Europe, and America.
Even though Fastly was able to work around the bug within an hour, it is still working on a more permanent solution throughout its network.
According to Fastly, around 85% of its network got an error because of the bug.
The company has said that it is analyzing its practices and processes to consider why the bug was not detected when it was presented last month.
Furthermore, it is working on finding a way where if an error were to occur, then its network should start running as soon as it can and not cause an outage like it did on Tuesday.
Rockwell stated:
“This outage was broad and severe, and we’re truly sorry for the impact on our customers and everyone who relies on them.”
Websites and other services like apps and various platforms get their help from Fastly to enhance their load times.
Fastly also has a global server network created to smooth the traffic overloads, which can cause websites to crash like the denial-of-service attack.
The company achieved this by saving content and various features of websites and apps on servers that are physically nearer to the users trying to gain access to a specific site or platform.
Fastly presents a support layer amongst the internet companies and customers trying to access the various platforms online, so when it closes down, the access to such platforms can get blocked.
Bad software updates are a rare thing.
However, similar mistakes have temporarily closed down some sections of huge online platforms like Amazon and Google.
What Caused the Internet to go down?
The internet can go down due to various causes, including:
- Modem/router malfunctions
- Inadequate speeds or equipment
- Hacking or network issues
- Bad weather
- ISP service outages and network congestion
- Accidental or malicious damage to cables
- Disruptions caused by malicious software
- Scheduled maintenance or unexpected repairs on the internet infrastructure
- Power failures
- Weather conditions that damage infrastructure or make it difficult for maintenance crews to access and repair equipment
- Human error, such as cutting through a fiber-optic cable
- Equipment failure
- Government censorship or deliberate shutdown of internet access
- Solar storms, which can disrupt large-scale infrastructure such as submarine communication cables.
These issues can lead to complete or partial failures of internet services, affecting local or wider-scale regions.
