Lessons Learned from the AWS Outage
TL;DR:
When Amazon Web Services went down on Monday, October 20th, immediate cyber speculation was that it was a hack of some kind. The actual cause was revealed to be much less spectacular, but incredibly relevant for your organization. Learn more about the impacts of the AWS outage and discover what the takeaways could be for your organization.
If you regularly set your alarms on Alexa, catch a ride to work on Lyft, study using Canvas LMS, secure your house with a Ring doorbell camera, or relax by playing Roblox or Fortnite, you probably had an annoying Monday. Amazon Web Services went down early in the morning on Monday, 10/20. This outage affected a vast number of industries, and for some, it seemed like the whole internet was affected.
When the outage first occurred, immediate speculation was that it was some kind of cyberattack. Given how much of the internet was affected by the outage, the cyberattack theory seemed plausible. The true culprit of the AWS outage wasn’t cybercriminal, however. It was an incredibly common issue, one that most software developers have seen at least once: the DNS error.
The Amazon Web Services outage has sparked both political discourse and speculation about the economic impacts of the outage. The impacts and the fallout of this AWS outage are still being realized, even a week later. For your organization, understanding the mechanics and impacts of the outage could provide valuable insights.
Understanding a DNS Error
A Domain Name System (DNS) is a system that acts like a directory for translating the plain text of a web address to an IP address. For this system to work, there are four DNS servers that are involved, the recursive DNS server, root name server, top level domain server, and the authoritative name server. These four servers work together to provide quick service for web users.
DNS servers are integral to successful internet operations, often being called the internet’s phonebook. Historically, DNS errors were a common cause of outages, which led to an increased amount of fail safes for the Domain Name System. The system is still vulnerable to failure, error and cyber attacks.
Takeaways from the AWS Outage
One of the biggest lessons that can be learned from AWS outage is that vulnerability is not always going to come from the most obvious threat. Oftentimes, the things that can bring your organization’s system down are not malicious, but common errors. Even an industry giant can be disrupted by a DNS error.
Currently, the AWS outage has called the best practices for dealing with DNS errors with the cloud system. Undoubtedly, as AWS responds to this outage and other industry titans reevaluate their own systems, new standards of practice will emerge.
It is important to have a managed information technology team that keeps up with the latest technology threats to keep you ahead of the technology curve. While technology errors are never 100% preventable, the right IT solution can help you recover as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Isogent is there to be your managed information technology partner. For every outage and interruption, Isogent will be right by your side. The AWS outage serves as a reminder that no system is infallible. When mistakes occur, what matters is how quickly you can get back up. Contact Isogent today to speak to a member of our team about our managed IT services.
Sources
Yahoo News | Amazon says a DNS error caused the AWS outage. What does that mean?
Netgear | What Is a DNS Error? How Do You Fix It?
Mashable | AWS outage update: Amazon, Alexa, Snapchat, Reddit, more hit by massive outage
