Iranian strikes on Amazon data centers highlights industry’s vulnerability to physical disasters

LONDON — Damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the Middle East from Iranian drone strikes highlights the rapid growth of data centers in the region, as well as the industry’s vulnerability to conflict. The company’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, said late Monday that two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were “directly struck” and another facility in Bahrain was also damaged after a drone landed nearby. “These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage,” AWS said in an update on its online dashboard. It said by late Tuesday that recovery efforts at the UAE data centers were making progress. Unlike previous AWS disruptions involving software that resulted in widespread global outages, these attacks involving physical damage appear to have resulted only in localized and limited disruption. Amazon Web Services hosts many of the world’s most-used online services, providing behind-the-scenes cloud computing i

Read Full Article