Square blames day-long outage on DNS issue
Square’s Response to the Outage
In a recent statement, Square claimed that there was "no evidence" of a cyberattack causing the daylong outage that affected customers and small businesses unable to use the payment giant’s technology on Thursday through early-Friday. The company conducted a post-mortem analysis of the incident and attributed the outage to a DNS issue.
What is DNS?
DNS, or Domain Name System, is the global protocol responsible for converting human-readable web addresses into IP addresses that allow computers to find and load websites from all over the world. When a company’s DNS settings are misconfigured or incorrectly changed, it can cause severe disruptions to their online presence.
The Root Cause of the Outage
Square explained in a blog post that while making standard changes to its internal network software, the combination of updates prevented its systems from properly communicating with each other, ultimately causing the disruption. The issue also affected many of Square’s internal tools for troubleshooting and support, rendering them temporarily unavailable.
DNS Issues: Not Rare or Unique
DNS issues are not uncommon in the cybersecurity world. In fact, they’re relatively commonplace due to the complexity and ease of getting DNS wrong. As a saying goes in cybersecurity circles: "It’s always DNS." If it’s not DNS, then it’s probably BGP (Border Gateway Protocol), another complicated internet protocol that can affect even the largest companies.
The Propagation of DNS Settings
DNS relies on distributed servers around the world, many offered by internet providers and networking providers. New DNS settings can take anywhere from a few minutes to hours or even days to fully propagate globally.
Previous Similar Outages
Square did not provide further details on how the DNS issue occurred. However, in 2021, Notion experienced a similar DNS issue that caused the note-taking app to go offline for several hours. The company was forced to tweet at its web host for help.
Months later, an outage at Akamai – a major provider of DNS services – had a knock-on effect on some of the world’s biggest sites, including banks and airlines. While cyberattacks targeting DNS services are not unheard of, this incident appears to be unrelated.
A Notorious Cyberattack
In 2016, several enormous waves of junk traffic targeted internet giant Dyn, knocking its DNS servers offline and effectively taking down Twitter, SoundCloud, Spotify, Shopify, and other major online sites that relied on Dyn’s services. The cyberattack was caused by a massive botnet of hijacked internet devices ensnared by the Mirai malware.
Conclusion
Square has resolved the daylong outage, but it serves as a reminder of the importance of DNS settings in maintaining a stable online presence. While DNS issues are not rare, they can have severe consequences for businesses and individuals alike.
What is Your Take on This Incident?
Share your thoughts with us: Was this incident preventable, or was Square’s response adequate? Let us know in the comments!
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- Notion Experiences DNS Issue: In 2021, Notion experienced a DNS issue that saw the note-taking app go offline for several hours. The company was forced to tweet at its web host for help.
- Akamai Outage Affects Major Sites: An outage at Akamai – a major provider of DNS services – had a knock-on effect on some of the world’s biggest sites, including banks and airlines.
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