Major Outage: Cloudflare Disrupts X, ChatGPT, and Downdetector
â–Ľ Summary
– Cloudflare is addressing a major outage affecting sites globally, causing error messages on platforms like X, ChatGPT, and DownDetector, with some services now recovering.
– The outage led to error messages referencing “challenges.cloudflare.com,” and Cloudflare has restored dashboard services but is still working on broader application issues.
– A Cloudflare spokesperson attributed the problem to a spike in unusual traffic starting at 6:20AM ET, which caused errors for some network traffic, with the cause still unknown.
– Numerous services were impacted, including Indeed, Grindr, Uber, Canva, Spotify, NJ Transit, League of Legends, Archive of Our Own, and digital outlets like Axios and Politico.
– This incident follows recent outages at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, highlighting ongoing vulnerabilities in major internet infrastructure services.
A significant internet disruption rippled across numerous popular platforms today, stemming from a widespread outage at Cloudflare. The networking giant, which offers critical services like DDoS mitigation and content delivery for countless websites globally, scrambled to address the problem after users began encountering error messages when trying to access services like X, ChatGPT, and Downdetector. These platforms are now reportedly showing initial signs of recovery.
Many affected websites presented visitors with a specific error instructing them to “Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed.” According to the company’s official status page, a recent update confirmed that a change had been deployed to restore dashboard services. The statement noted that teams were still actively working to resolve the broader impact on application services for all users.
A Cloudflare spokesperson provided a statement indicating the company first detected a “spike in unusual traffic” targeting one of its core services. This anomalous surge in activity resulted in errors for a significant portion of the traffic routed through Cloudflare’s global network. The spokesperson confirmed that the root cause of this unusual traffic spike remains unknown and that all available engineering resources are dedicated to restoring normal service and ensuring all web traffic is processed without further errors. A full investigation into the incident’s origin is planned once the immediate situation is stabilized.
The effects of the outage were far-reaching, impacting a diverse array of online services. Job search platform Indeed, dating app Grindr, ride-sharing service Uber, design tool Canva, music streaming giant Spotify, and public transit service NJ Transit all reported issues. The disruption also affected gaming with League of Legends and fanfiction repository Archive of Our Own experiencing downtime. Several major digital news outlets, including Axios, The Information, and Politico, were also temporarily inaccessible to readers.
This incident arrives on the heels of other major cloud infrastructure failures in recent weeks. A substantial Amazon Web Services outage last month crippled services like Fortnite, Alexa, and Snapchat. That event was closely followed by technical difficulties at Microsoft Azure, which resulted in Xbox Live services being offline for an extended period. This latest event underscores the internet’s reliance on a small number of critical infrastructure providers.
(Source: The Verge)