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A technical issue occurred on Microsoft’s (MS) “Azure” on the 29th (local time), causing a temporary halt for thousands of global services and applications. Azure is the second-largest cloud service provider globally, following Amazon Web Services (AWS). After a significant AWS outage, the Azure incident has increased worries about excessive dependence on cloud services.

As per Microsoft, the service disruption started at 11 a.m. on that day. When the cloud service experienced a failure, MS-related services that rely on its servers were also affected at the same time. Moreover, companies like Alaska Airlines, Starbucks, and Costco, which use Azure, encountered issues with check-in and payment processes. By approximately 12 p.m., the extent of the outage increased, with Azure indicating more than 20,000 access failures.

In a later update, Azure mentioned, “The problem seems to have originated from unexpected configuration modifications,” and added, “We are currently preventing any changes to the Azure Front Door (AFD) service and are working to resume regular operations.” The Azure Front Door serves as a network gateway that routes traffic across the globe. The error took place when improper modifications to the cloud system settings led to global traffic becoming disrupted.

This event once more emphasized the structural risks linked to a heavy reliance on particular cloud infrastructures. On the 20th, AWS, the leading cloud service provider globally, also encountered an outage, impacting public institutions and businesses around the world, including in South Korea. Only ten days later, Azure, the second-largest provider, experienced a comparable problem. Reuters stated, “This disruption clearly revealed the weaknesses in global digital infrastructure and the excessive dependence on cloud services.”

Especially worrying is the possible worldwide impact of small mistakes. The reason behind the Azure service error was an “unintended configuration change.” This implies that even a basic employee error in entering settings—rather than a significant power failure or natural disaster—can disrupt essential global services. The AWS server outage also began in the US-EAST-1 region (a group of data centers) located in Virginia.