Explained: The ‘basic software bug’ that caused Amazon Web Services outage, bringing half the internet across the world down

Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Amazon’s cloud unit – has published a detailed explanation, pinpointing a bug in its automation software as the root cause of the hours-long outage this week that took down thousands of popular sites and apps. AWS confirmed that a cascading series of events was triggered by a basic software flaw in the system that manages its vast digital database.

According to the company, the outage began when customers lost the ability to connect to DynamoDB, AWS’s core database system.This was due to a “latent defect within the service’s automated Domain Name System (DNS) management system.”