AWS Outage: What Small Businesses & Nonprofits Need to Know

Cloud security alert concept highlighting potential vulnerabilities in cloud storage and data protection systems.

When the cloud goes down, the ripple effect can shake the entire digital economy.

On October 20, 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a major outage in its US-East-1 region, disrupting major platforms like Shopify, Wix, Venmo, Snapchat, and Signal.

“A DNS issue caused widespread disruptions across several AWS services, temporarily impacting access to websites and apps around the world.” — The Guardian, Oct. 20, 2025

Even large-scale businesses were affected — but for small businesses and nonprofits that depend on AWS-hosted tools, the consequences can be far more personal: interrupted sales, failed donations, and lost trust.

💻 What This Means for You

If your systems rely on cloud-hosted tools — e-commerce platforms, donor management software, or online payment gateways — an outage like this can quietly pause your operations.

And while outages may only last a few hours, they create small windows that fraudsters know how to exploit.

“Outages are moments when security checks lag, alerts delay, and attackers move quickly to take advantage of downtime.” — Wired, Oct. 20, 2025

Even if your website didn’t crash, your fraud detection, payment confirmations, or login alerts could have been delayed — creating blind spots for fraudulent behavior.

🧰 5 Steps to Protect Your Business After an Outage

1. Check your transactions — Look for incomplete or duplicate payments.

2. Review platform status updates — Confirm if it was an external issue.

3. Communicate with customers/donors — Be transparent about delays.

4. Monitor for phishing and refund scams — Fraudsters mimic AWS, Shopify, or Stripe emails post-outage.

5. Document the incident — Include what happened, how long it lasted, and what you did to respond.

🛡️ JRMT Insight

Outages are inevitable. Fraud doesn’t wait for systems to stabilize — it moves when things are unstable.

That’s why readiness matters more than reaction. Your team doesn’t need to be perfect — just prepared.

📥 Download the free Fraud Readiness Checklist – AWS Outage Edition to stay protected before the next disruption hits.

In Fraud Prevention We Trust,

- Dee

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📎 Sources / References

1. The Guardian — “Amazon Web Services outage hits dozens of websites and apps” (Oct. 20, 2025)

2. Wired — “What the Huge AWS Outage Reveals About the Internet” (Oct. 20, 2025)

3. Reuters — “Amazon’s Cloud Unit Reports Widespread Outage” (Oct. 20, 2025)

📎 Key Terms

1. AWS (Amazon Web Services): The cloud platform behind many tools you use daily.

2. DNS (Domain Name System): If DNS breaks, websites become unreachable.

3. Outage: A temporary service disruption that creates blind spots in fraud monitoring.

4. Transaction Log: A record of Activity that's essential for tracking inconsistencies.

5. Phishing: A common tactic used by fraudsters, after system downtime, to send victims fake messages posing as legitimate platforms.