Cloudflare Outage Disrupts Major Websites Worldwide
The American multinational company Cloudflare, known for its web infrastructure and cybersecurity services, recently faced a significant global outage that rendered numerous websites and platforms inoperable for around four hours. High-profile services such as Zoom, Canva, and Fortnite were among those affected. This incident marks the second major disruption for Cloudflare within just two weeks.
Timeline of the Outage
According to data from Downdetector, which monitors online service incidents, the disruption began around 8:00 AM Spanish peninsular time. Although some users began reporting issues, complaints surged around 10:00 AM. By 1:00 PM, normal operations had resumed, and the company declared the issue resolved at 2:00 PM.
Cause of the Disruption
This morning, Cloudflare stated that it was “investigating issues with the Cloudflare Control Panel and related APIs,” indicating that customers using the Cloudflare Dashboard and APIs were experiencing failed requests and error messages. The outage coincided with scheduled maintenance at their Chicago data center, although a direct link has not been confirmed.
Impact on Services
The outage first impacted notable online services like Canva and Zoom. Online gaming platforms, including Valorant, Fortnite, and League of Legends, were also affected, alongside significant banking services such as CaixaBank and Bankinter.
Recent Outages Highlight Vulnerabilities
This is not the first time Cloudflare has encountered such issues. On November 18, the company experienced another four-hour outage that disrupted services like X and ChatGPT, emphasizing a troubling trend in cloud infrastructure reliability. Recent months have also seen failures from other major cloud providers, including AWS and Azure, highlighting the vulnerabilities faced by the global internet infrastructure, which heavily relies on a few key companies.
