Explainer: Just how vulnerable is the Internet?

This file photo shows an LED-illuminated wireless router in Philadelphia. An outage at a little-known firm that helps speed up websites knocked a lot of top internet destinations offline on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, disrupting business and leisure for untold millions globally. — AP

BOSTON: An outage at a little-known firm that speeds up access to websites knocked a lot of top Internet destinations offline on Tuesday, disrupting business and leisure for untold millions globally. The problem was quickly resolved. The company, Fastly, blamed a configuration error in its technology.

But the incident - Fastly's traffic dropped 75% for about an hour just as the US East Coast was beginning to stir -raises questions about how vulnerable the global Internet is to more serious disruption.