Twitter avatars, blog images, and SmugMug photos are all vanishing because Amazon S3 is down.

Hackers? Alas, Amazon probably can’t put the blame on them. They say the problem is internal:

10:32 AM PDT A quick update that we believe this is an issue with the communication between several Amazon S3 internal components. We do not have an ETA at this time but will continue to keep you updated.

They say they’re coming close to a fix, though:

1:38 PM PDT At this point, we are accelerating progress on restoring internal communication as all signs continue to look good.

This just goes to show that, even with a giant like Amazon, things can go awry without any external intervention.

Of course, there’s always the other possibility: Amazon covering up an S3 security vulnerability by attributing the outage to internal communication problems. Then again, we must never assume malice when stupidity will suffice.

Post from: EveryJoe

Amazon Says S3 Outage is Internal