HARARE – Zimbabwe’s internet disruptions on October 19 and 20 were part of a global outage caused by a major failure within Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, and not due to local service provider faults, technology experts have confirmed.
The outage, which affected multiple AWS regions, led to temporary downtime for many digital platforms and applications worldwide, including several used in Africa. Popular South African transport app SafeBoda was among the services that went offline as a result of the disruption.
Local IT policy specialists said the incident exposed the continent’s heavy reliance on AWS infrastructure, particularly among financial technology (fintech) firms.
“Most fintech platforms around Africa depend on AWS. Institutions such as the Bank of Uganda strictly require clear IT outsourcing policies, but even with compliance, reliance on one cloud provider exposes platforms to significant operational risks,” an ICT consultant noted.
The Global AWS Outage
The Seattle-based tech giant confirmed that the disruption originated from its US-East-1 data centre region in Northern Virginia, one of its most critical global hubs.
Amazon traced the problem to issues affecting its DynamoDB endpoint, a central database service that supports user data and operations for countless web-based platforms.
“It’s one of the record-keepers of the modern internet,” said Mike Chapple, an IT professor at the University of Notre Dame. “When DynamoDB went down, apps temporarily lost connection to their data — it’s as if large portions of the internet suffered temporary amnesia.”
Amazon later explained that the issue was tied to a Domain Name System (DNS) error — the service that translates website names into machine-readable addresses. The error disrupted the translation process, making it impossible for many services to connect to their data.
Global Impact
The outage rippled across continents, affecting online services ranging from social media apps like Snapchat and gaming platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite to financial apps and food delivery systems.
Even global brands like Starbucks reported brief interruptions to their mobile payment systems.
According to the tracking site DownDetector, users across the world reported connection problems with dozens of major online platforms.
While Amazon reported gradual recovery after three hours, it acknowledged continuing “significant errors and connectivity issues” across multiple services into Monday evening.
Centralised Cloud Risks
Cybersecurity experts have repeatedly warned that the world’s dependence on a few large cloud providers — such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google — poses systemic risks.
“So much of the world now relies on three or four major cloud companies,” said Patrick Burgess of the U.K.-based Chartered Institute for IT. “When something goes wrong, the domino effects are enormous. People don’t see Amazon — they just see that their favourite apps are down.”
Experts added that while the outage was not linked to a cyberattack, it underscores the vulnerability of an internet ecosystem dominated by a few players.
Previous Outages
This is not the first time AWS has faced major service interruptions.
In 2023, a similar but shorter disruption took down multiple global websites.
The longest AWS outage occurred in late 2021, lasting more than five hours and affecting airlines, auto dealerships, payment systems, and video streaming services.
Other notable global outages were recorded in 2020 and 2017.
A separate 2024 incident caused by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s faulty update to Microsoft Windows systems also led to worldwide disruptions, highlighting just how interconnected the global IT ecosystem has become.
Lessons for Africa
For Zimbabwe and other African nations, the latest incident serves as a wake-up call on digital dependency. Experts say governments and private firms should diversify their cloud strategies, establish robust data redundancy systems, and strengthen local hosting capabilities to mitigate such risks in future.
“Cloud technology is critical, but resilience means having alternatives,” said one local network engineer. “We need to invest in regional data centres to reduce exposure when global providers experience failures.”
As of Tuesday, Amazon reported that most services were back online, though investigations into the root cause of the outage were ongoing.
