Each time a global-level internet disruption happens, social media platforms that remain accessible start buzzing with conspiracy theories and questions about the "Age of Darkness" that has come upon us. 

On June 8th, 2021, at 9:49 am (GMT), Fastly experienced significant issues with its CDN infrastructure, which caused websites and platforms worldwide to become inaccessible. 

Websites like CNN, the Guardian, the New York Times, Twitch, Reddit, Spotify, Amazon, and many others went down for almost 20 minutes.

More information about the incident can be found here, here , and here.

This incident is neither new nor unique; a similar issue happened back in July 2020 with another CDN and DNS provider Cloudflare, that took part of the internet down. More information about that incident can be found here. 

Each time this kind of thing happens, blame first falls on a global-level cyberattack or a massive Ransomware blowout. And each time, the issue appears to be a disruptive update or a glitchy configuration caused by human error. 

Human error is much more common than we care to admit and can cripple businesses in milliseconds. 

We also seem to forget that although the internet is this entire universe that encompasses all of humanity's achievements and knowledge, it is still run by a few international suppliers that can go down at any second. Suppliers providing Fiber Connectivity, CDN and DNS services, Data Centers, and even equipment like Firewalls and Routers are prone to human error or attacks that make the internet as vulnerable as your home computer. 

Relying on single suppliers, no matter how big, is terrible for your business. 

It is critical for your Business Continuity Plan to include redundant upstream suppliers for your primary services to guarantee uptime or at the very least minimize downtime. 

Our approach for Business Continuity Planning relies on Murphy's law, where we consider each node, each device, and each service prone to downtime and plan around it. 

Contact us today to find out how we can help guarantee uptime for your business.