Another Halt on US Company Website... Third Major Outage in a Month

by Paek Jongmin

Published 23 Jul.2021 04:38(KST)

Impact of Akamai CDN Service Disruption Not Due to Hacking
Increased Inconvenience for Users

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] On the afternoon of the 22nd (local time), the websites of major U.S. companies including Delta Air Lines, McDonald's, financial firms Capital One and HSBC, delivery companies UPS and FedEx, and telecommunications company AT&T experienced temporary outages. As a result, many users faced inconveniences such as flight boarding delays and financial transaction disruptions.

According to CNBC and other broadcasts, these companies, customers of content delivery network (CDN) providers Akamai and Oracle Cloud Services, suffered service disruptions that afternoon. The Washington Post reported that internet outages mainly occurred along the East Coast.

The internet outage was confirmed to be related to Akamai's CDN equipment located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Oracle, a cloud service provider, explained that the incident was due to Akamai's service disruption.

Akamai stated that the outage lasted about an hour and was subsequently restored. They also clarified that the issue was not caused by a hacking attack.

The outage also affected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Fidelity, Airbnb, and the PlayStation Network, which operates games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty.

CNN reported that this was the third internet outage incident within the past month. Following the paralysis of major global media outlets like The New York Times and companies such as Amazon and Target in early last month, airline, bank, and stock exchange operations were also disrupted in mid-June.

With the recent spread of ransomware attacks raising concerns about hacking, worries about frequent internet service interruptions are also growing. Akamai has already caused two internet service outage incidents.