Could This Be The Largest IT Outages In History?

The impact of large-scale IT outages can be profound, affecting millions of users and causing substantial economic losses.

A makeshift departure board in Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Photo Credit: BBC

Global outages impact banking services, media, supermarkets, airports and others for long hours

The impact of large-scale IT outages can be profound, affecting millions of users and causing substantial economic losses.

One notable instance in recent years was the AWS (Amazon Web Services) outage in November 2020, which affected major websites and services worldwide, including Netflix, Facebook, and Adobe.

These outages highlight the critical reliance of modern infrastructure on cloud services and the potential vulnerabilities that can arise.

Just four years later, in July 2024, the world experienced another mass global outage on a Friday – July 19. This outage affected businesses such as banks, airlines, train companies, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets, causing them to go offline.

Payment systems were impacted in different parts of the world, including Australia and the UK. Additionally, 911 services were disrupted in several US states, including Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

Major US airlines and airports in Germany, Amsterdam, and Spain also faced outages, resulting in many flights being grounded.

Among the notable entities affected by the outage was the London Stock Exchange, a critical component of the global economy.

According to the Spectator Index, Friday’s mass outage is set to be the largest in history. The cause is yet to be identified, and the outage lasted for close to 5 hours.

Prominent security consultant Troy Hunt said, “this will be the largest IT outage in history and this is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.”

Engineers are said to be working around the clock to mitigate the situation, according to reports.

However, as the outages linger, it brings lessons in resilience and preparedness for the digital age.