Amazon says ‘unexpected behaviour’ caused huge cloud outage

Amazon explained the failure in a highly technical statement posted online. The problems began about 10.30am New York time on Dec 7 and lasted several hours before Amazon managed to fix the problem. — Amazon Web Services/AP

Amazon.com Inc said automated processes in its cloud computing business caused cascading outages across the Internet this week, affecting everything from Disney amusement parks and Netflix videos to robot vacuums and Adele ticket sales.

In a statement Dec 10, Amazon said the problem began Dec 7 when an automated computer program – designed to make its network more reliable – ended up causing a “large number” of its systems to unexpectedly behave strangely. That, in turn, created a surge of activity on Amazon’s networks, ultimately preventing users from accessing some of its cloud services.