Computer blackouts aren’t as rare as they might seem, check out some of the biggest ones in recent years
In recent years, several computer blackouts have come to light, affecting companies in various sectors. The global blackout this Friday (19), which occurred due to a failed update Software from the Microsoft and from CrowdStrike has already entered the history books.
Discover other blackouts from recent years.
Google Blackout (2024)
In March of this year, the Gmail From Google was down for a while. Users saw their emails disappear on March 5. The company said the instability was caused by increased traffic on the line during the morning. Many users reported being unable to send or receive emails, or access their accounts.
On the same day, around 12:30 pm, the Objectiveor Instagram and the Facebook were also off the air. Meta Communications Director Andy Stone informed network users via X that the instability was due to a technical failure, but did not provide details.
Facebook Blackout (2021)
On October 4, 2021, Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, suffered a global outage that lasted about six hours. At the time, the outage was caused by a change in the configuration of the company’s servers, which coordinate network traffic between its data centers.
AWS Blackout (2020)
On November 25, 2020, the Amazon Web Services (AWS), a leading cloud services provider, suffered a major outage that affected a wide range of online services, from business applications to streaming platforms such as Roku, Duolingo, Adobe Spark, Flickr, League of Legends (LoL), and Pokemon Go.
The blackout, which lasted several hours, was caused by a problem in the company’s network infrastructure. AWS in the eastern region of the United States.
How do blackouts occur?
There are many factors that lead to a computer blackout. In the case of Microsoft and CrowdStrike, it was a failure caused by a software update.
However, they can occur due to hacker attacks. For example, in 2023, Google, Amazon and the Cloudware suffered a large-scale cyber attack, which however did not interrupt the companies’ systems.
Furthermore, the failures of hardware (such as the Google Data Center fire in Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA, which left three people injured) and natural disasters also lead to these blackouts.
Other types of events of this kind cannot be predicted as there are many factors to consider. With the increase in global network interconnectivity, the risks of vulnerabilities and problems tend to increase, even with advances in protection.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
