Cloudflare Resolves Global Outage That Disrupted ChatGPT, X

Core Points - A worldwide outage at Cloudflare Inc. was resolved after several hours, affecting major websites and services including ChatGPT and X [1][2] - The outage was caused by a configuration file that exceeded its expected size, leading to a crash in the software system managing traffic [2][3] - Cloudflare has a history of outages, with previous incidents in July 2019 and June 2022 causing significant disruptions to various websites [4] Company Impact - The outage impacted the websites of critical organizations, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and major food and agricultural companies like Cargill Inc. and Louis Dreyfus Co. [8] - New Jersey Transit reported that both its website and mobile app were affected, warning users of potential service disruptions [9][10] - Cloudflare's services are crucial for many companies globally, acting as a buffer to protect websites from traffic overloads [5][6] Industry Context - The incident highlights the internet's reliance on a few major players, with Cloudflare being described as a significant yet underrecognized company in the cybersecurity space [7][9] - Comparisons were made to a recent outage at Amazon's cloud service, which lasted about 15 hours and disrupted operations for major firms [11]