WhatsApp & Apple Outages; Plus ITOps Tax Day Survival Tips

Go under the hood of a ChatGPT outage, H&R Block’s Tax Day disruption, and more incidents from the past few weeks. The Internet Report team will also discuss Microsoft’s update on recent subsea cable cuts and the latest global outage trends.———CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:57 ChatGPT Outage03:35 Revisiting West Coast of Africa Cable Cuts09:07 H&R Block Outage11:32 Sky Mobile Outage12:25 Outage on unpkg CDN14:06 PlayHQ Outage16:40 Outage Trends: By the Numbers19:33 Get in Touch ———For more insights, check out the links below:- The Internet Report: Pulse Update blog: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-chatgpt-outage-more-news?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse34_podcast- Explore the ChatGPT outage in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): https://akhdjionjdupmjvkqfyigkaorlxgzgir.share.thousandeyes.com- Review Microsoft’s post-incident report on the west coast of Africa cable cuts (see the entry labeled March 14, tracking ID: VT60-RPZ): https://azure.status.microsoft/en-gb/status/history/- Also watch Microsoft’s related Azure Incident Retrospective video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypU_UuwW_w8&list=PLmsFUfdnGr3xomlYbZPAYTtFdkcvbv2ye———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

With tax season coming to a close in the United States, IT teams at tax preparation companies and other organizations in the industry will be taking extra care to make sure that their systems can handle a spike in traffic due to a potential last-minute rush of filings. Tune in to hear The Internet Report hosts discuss how IT teams can navigate major spikes in demand and give customers the best possible digital experience, whether it’s Tax Day, Black Friday, or another high-traffic period.They’ll also unpack recent outages at companies including Apple and WhatsApp, and explore why a sudden reduction in page load times may indicate functional issues rather than true improvements to the customer’s digital experience.———CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro01:11 Navigating U.S. Tax Season and Spikes in Demand06:37 Pulse Update: Outage Analysis06:40 Apple Outage: App Store, TV+, and Music13:35 WhatsApp, Other Meta Services Disrupted15:04 Square Outage17:19 Performance as a Cyber Indicator: XZ Utils20:48 Panera Bread Outage22:33 Ray AI Disruption24:13 Outage Trends: By the Numbers27:05 Get in Touch ———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

The end-to-end delivery of modern digital services can introduce a complex web of dependencies and failure points, which can stem from direct relationships as well as third-party providers, introducing layers of abstraction for operations teams to keep track of. Managing this complex ecosystem can be challenging. Unexpected issues may arise from seemingly insignificant components, surprising even the largest, most technologically sophisticated organizations.For example, in recent weeks, problems at third-party providers led to outages at McDonald’s and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Tune in to the episode to hear what happened and explore other incidents from the last couple of weeks.——— CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:09 Payment and Ordering Systems Cut Out at McDonald’s04:36 Disruptions at the DMV08:48 Cable Cut in West Africa10:16 Another Fiber Cut, but With Layered Redundancy14:12 PlayStation Network, GeForce Now Experience Issues16:21 Get in Touch ———For more insights, check out these links:- The Internet Report: Pulse Update Blog: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-mcdonalds-dmv-outages?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse32_podcast- Explore the Africa undersea cable cut in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): https://alxucgibmtsxarllvvybwfagzkvvlokf.share.thousandeyes.com/———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

Over a two-day period this past week, major social media platforms—Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, and Discord—all experienced disruptions. In the same timeframe, Comcast was also impacted by an outage that affected access to specific services and applications.Meta experienced issues with its log-in process, Discord navigated unexpectedly high load volumes, Comcast dealt with 100% packet loss in part of its backbone, and—the following day—LinkedIn worked its way through a backend issue.These incidents each leave valuable reminders for NetOps teams as they seek to minimize downtime and assure exceptional digital experiences.Tune in to the episode to learn more and also gain insight into the latest outage numbers and trends.——— CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:58 Comcast Outage05:09 Meta Outage09:38 Discord Disruption10:25 LinkedIn Outage13:22 DIRECTV Service Disruption15:25 Outage Trends: By the Numbers17:03 Get in Touch ———For more insights, check out these links:- The Internet Report: Pulse Update Blog: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-meta-linkedin-comcast-outages?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse31_podcast- Explore the outages in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required):Comcast Outage: https://afplzaqpehynhosldcqefycfhqqcrbzh.share.thousandeyes.com LinkedIn Outage: https://anxjzezcpptrnpodjucgzzixdkldguzm.share.thousandeyes.com - Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse31_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

Load is a fundamental but, at times, challenging variable for networks and operations teams to handle. In the past few weeks, ThousandEyes saw various load-related problems impact organizations including Google Cloud, Front, several Australian banks, and Minnesota State University Moorhead.Tune in to learn more about what happened during these incidents, as well as hear our commentary on the recent outage impacting AT&T. Use the timestamps below to jump to the sections that most interest you: CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:59 AT&T outage impacts cellular services nationwide04:40 Australian banks appear to lose online and app-based services for 24 hours07:46 Google Cloud metadata store faces sudden demand spike09:19 Front’s “large unexpected increase in web traffic”10:23 Box experiences outage as third-party network component fails11:23 Minnesota State University Moorhead’s case study on good visibility12:44 Outage trends: By the numbers15:35 Get in touch ———For more insights, check out these links:- Explore the Front disruption in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): https://aczocbxpamiipkdqnaqdedkytwhlfjtw.share.thousandeyes.com?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse30_podcast- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse30_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

When outages happen, it’s what you do next that matters. It’s important to have a backup plan in place that you can quickly activate to minimize the impact of an incident.Over the past two weeks, companies initiated a range of resiliency actions, including asking customers to use alternate authentication methods (or to avoid logging out of a service), setting up a new contact center to re-establish lines of communication, and reverting to manual processes.Tune in to learn more about what happened during these and other recent incidents.CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro01:00 Square Outage Impacts “Multiple” Services04:18 Applied Digital’s Multi-week Data Center Issue07:14 UC Berkeley Data Center Outage08:44 Russia .ru Domain Outage10:05 Cyber Attack at Lurie Children's Hospital11:36 Outage Trends: By the Numbers15:55 Get in Touch———For more insights on outage trends and analysis of some of the most notable outages of 2023, check out our on-demand webinar: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/amer-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways-webinar?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse29_podcastIn EMEA and want to tune in live? We’re hosting one more live webinar session on Feb. 22 at 10 AM (GMT). Register now: https://www.thousandeyes.com/webinars/emea-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse29_podcastAnd also check out these links:- The Internet Report: Pulse Update Blog: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-square-outage-and-more-news?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse29_podcast- Explore the .ru domain outage in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): https://awuyqonlmzxmvizsdcgevvdhcbzervks.share.thousandeyes.com?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse29_podcast- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse29_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

The ThousandEyes Internet Intelligence team joins us from Cisco Live in Amsterdam, talking about a major theme from the event—security.Tune in to hear their thoughts on how visibility can help companies in their security efforts, the sovereignty of data in flight, and why you don’t have to choose between security and performance.———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:09 Evolving Security Landscape04:53 Security Excellence & Optimal Digital Experience10:13 Sovereignty of Data in Flight14:57 Key Takeaways15:55 Get in Touch———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. And follow us on X: @thousandeyes

What happened during the recent Microsoft Teams and Azure disruptions? Go under the hood of these incidents and also explore other recent disruptions in this week’s Pulse Update.CHAPTERS- 01:03 Network issue leads to Microsoft Teams service disruption- 04:09 Azure Resource Manager exhausts capacity, causing service issues- 06:20 Oracle Cloud experiences network outage- 09:56 Jira users encounter 503s and other errors- 10:30 Sage outage impacts South Africa- 11:08 Red Hat experiences four search-related incidents- 11:45 Recent outage trends and numbersFor more insights on outage trends and analysis of some of the most notable outages of 2023, check out our on-demand webinar: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/amer-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways-webinar?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse28_podcastIn EMEA and want to tune in live? We’re hosting one more live webinar session on Feb. 22 at 10 AM (GMT). Register now: https://www.thousandeyes.com/webinars/emea-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse28_podcastAnd also check out these links:- The Internet Report: Pulse Update Blog: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-microsoft-teams-azure-outage?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse28_podcast- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q3_internetreportpulse28_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

What caused recent dips in performance for OpenAI’s ChatGPT? Tune in to hear The Internet Report team unpack this and other recent disruptions, including a hack that led to an outage at the Spanish branch of the Orange mobile network, and a blip for customers of the cloud services provider DigitalOcean.They’ll also cover the outage trends they’re seeing in 2024 so far and how extreme cold weather can cause problems for data centers.For more insights on outage trends and analysis of some of the most notable outages of 2023, register for the upcoming Top Outages of 2023 webinar: https://www.thousandeyes.com/webinars/amer-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q2_internetreportpulse27_podcastAlso check out these links:- Blog: 2023 Internet Outage Trends & the New Outage Landscape: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-pulse-update-2023-internet-outage-trends?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q2_internetreportpulse27_podcast- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q2_internetreportpulse27_podcast———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:12 Two Consecutive Service Degradations at ChatGPT04:43 Hack Leads to Orange Spain Outage13:05 DigitalOcean Disruption15:55 By the Numbers23:26 Get in Touch———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes

As they launch into 2024, organizations are facing a different outage landscape than they had at the start of 2023. The past year saw increases in cloud service provider (CSP) outages, application outages, and the percentage of U.S.-centric outages—all of which point to an evolution in the way outages happen and the need for different strategies to minimize the impact of disruptions.In this episode, Mike Hicks (Principal Solutions Analyst at ThousandEyes) unpacks these trends and shares practical tips for mitigating disruptions and optimizing performance. Listen on YouTube or tune in on your favorite podcast platform.And for more insights, check out these resources:- Top Outages of 2023 Webinar: https://www.thousandeyes.com/webinars/amer-top-outages-2023-analyses-takeaways?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q2_internetreportpulse26_podcast (*In APJC? Check out the APJC session: https://cisco.webex.com/webappng/sites/cisco/meeting/register/f22aa6a322284e07abf0350b255c88c8?ticket=4832534b0000000658abcedc3030906188c1af83e52ab18645645592a5962e7bdd3a5f2afdc393ae&timestamp=1705102128048&RGID=r57f263db115ebc6efa4c0a05429caa6f)- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=na_fy24q2_internetreportpulse26_podcast———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:38 Cloud Service Provider Outages Trending Up02:30 Percent of U.S.-centric Outages Rises06:55 Application Outages Up in 202309:55 Get in Touch———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on X: @thousandeyes