When the Cloud Stumbled – and What That Means for Your Website

On Monday 20th October 2025, one of the biggest backbone systems of the internet – Amazon Web Services (AWS) – experienced a significant outage that rippled across many of the services we all rely on.

Unlike many larger providers affected by the outage, our website hosting services remained fully operational throughout. That’s because we’ve chosen to stay with a more traditional and personal hosting model — one where we know the people who manage our servers, and they know us.

We continue to partner with smaller, independent providers here in the UK, giving us direct access to decision-makers and support teams when it matters most. It’s always reassuring to have the mobile numbers of the directors responsible for our infrastructure, and to know that our servers are located in two separate UK data centres — allowing us to switch locations in minutes, not hours, should the need ever arise.

At O’Brien Media, we believe in helping small businesses prepare for unexpected digital challenges. This incident gives us an opportunity to reflect on what happened, and what you can do to strengthen your website, hosting and online presence for the future.

What happened?

The outage began in one of AWS’s key regions, which supports a huge volume of cloud infrastructure globally. The root issue appeared to be a combination of internal system problems – a subsystem that monitors network load-balancers, issues with DNS look-ups, and a core database service disruption – meaning many apps and websites couldn’t properly resolve requests or access data.

The effect was vast: platforms across social media, gaming, banking, smart-home, and e-commerce were disrupted – from messaging apps to online shopping and banking services. AWS reported that most systems returned to normal operations by the afternoon, though some continued processing backlogs into the evening.

What it means for small businesses and websites

For many of our clients, this serves as a reminder of how interconnected and dependent our online presence can be on infrastructure that’s often out of sight. Here are some key takeaways:

Even “big name” infrastructure can fail. Using a major provider doesn’t make you immune – it just means you’re part of a larger system. If that system goes down, many dependent sites go down too.
Diversification and resilience matter. Just as you’d have a backup generator for your office, you should consider having preparedness for website or infrastructure issues — such as secondary hosting, failover systems, or multi-region redundancy.
Monitoring and communication are key. When outages happen, the speed and clarity of how you respond can make all the difference. Having a communication plan in place helps maintain customer confidence.
The real impact is on your users. When essential apps or websites go down, it shakes trust. Your website is a reflection of your brand’s reliability — ensuring it stays available is part of your service promise.

What we recommend

As specialists in supporting small and medium-sized businesses across the UK with websites, hosting, and digital services, we suggest a few practical steps to take now:

Review your hosting arrangement. Ask where your site is hosted and what redundancies are in place. Does your host distribute services across multiple regions or providers?
Ensure your backups and recovery plans are active. Keep recent backups of your website files and databases stored independently of your host, and test your recovery process regularly.
Have clear communication channels ready. If your site goes offline, can you still reach customers via email or social media? A simple message on a backup status page can protect your reputation.
Monitor your uptime. Use uptime monitoring tools to be alerted to issues quickly.
Keep the human side in focus. Technology is important, but preparation, communication, and calm action make the real difference when something unexpected happens.

Looking forward

This outage reminds us that the digital world is powerful – but also fragile. As we move into an era where websites, apps, and online services are central to business and daily life, small businesses can thrive by being proactive rather than reactive.

At O’Brien Media, we’re committed to working with you every step of the way – from creating reliable, accessible websites to offering hosting and ongoing support – so that when the unexpected happens, you’re ready to adapt and continue serving your customers.

Let’s use this moment as both a wake-up call and an opportunity. Together, we can build online presences that are not only beautiful and effective but resilient and customer-confident.

Thank you for entrusting us with your online journey. If you’d like to review your hosting setup or discuss how to prepare for digital disruptions like this, our team is here to help.