Claude AI: Why are there so many internet outages?

This week, an AI chatbot Claude went downstairsso users can’t access the service through its manufacturer Anthropic’s website, but barely a week goes by without a similar incident on technology giant, government website or HOSPITAL. What is causing this apparent increase in problems?

One of the major vulnerabilities of the modern internet is the shift to cloud computing, which means that a huge range of websites and services now rely on just a handful of companies such as Amazon and Microsoft. In the early days of the commercial Internet in the 1990s, companies ran their own hardware and software, a bit like individual shops on the street. If one of these companies had a problem, its store would close, but the rest would be unaffected.

These days, companies are much more likely to host all their operations in the cloud, which is like streets, sewers, and the power grid rolled into one. If it goes down, then all the shops are out of business and we all hear about it.

Sometimes these problems can be caused by simple human error. Nothing highlights the dangers of this kind of incident better than the 2024 outage, when cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a software configuration file that wiped out millions of Windows computers around the world, knocking airlines, banks, television companies, and emergency call centers offline.

Josef Jarnecki at the Royal United Services Institute, a British defense think tank, says that if the outage is large and the effects are widespread, it is unlikely to be intentional. Ransomware criminals who break into systems and lock data before demanding payment know that rather than going after huge tech companies full of experts – they go after smaller prey.

Tim Stevens at King’s College London says ransomware attacks are increasingly targeting small local governments and infrastructure. Their business model is to break in, lock something people rely on and demand a ransom, so what better to target than the water supply, the power grid or local government?

We’ve seen exactly that in the UK, with ransomware attacks against Hackney Council, Gloucester City Council and Leicester City Council, as well as NHS and water suppliers. Stevens says that since we’ve had computers, there’s been a game of cat and mouse between hackers and security experts. Unfortunately, hackers are ahead at the moment. “In the last year or so, I’ve heard more people in the profession than usual say we’re losing. Not just that we’re behind, we’re actually losing.”

It’s also unlikely that state-sponsored hackers from countries like Russia and China would take down an entire cloud provider. “They are certainly targeting them, but not to destroy and disrupt them,” says Jarnecki. “They are incredibly highly targeted.

An example can be attack on US government email accounts operated by Microsoft in 2023which were hacked by a China-linked group, according to Microsoft. The wider service was largely untouched, but spies gained access to a treasure trove of American secrets.

Sarah Kreps at Cornell University in New York, says targeted cyber attacks are also being used by countries in what is now called the gray zone — a state of tension that is not quite peace and not quite war, but a carefully considered and measured fight that stops short of provoking all-out conflict.

“It’s kind of a form of economic sanction because so much of our GDP, our economic well-being, depends on the Internet. If you can take that away, you’re crippling the ability of adversaries to create wealth. And the ability to create wealth is how you develop resources to fund war, to fund allies in war,” he says.

Kreps points out that Russia and China are not the only ones doing this. While we occasionally hear about Western cyber warfare – GCHQ and MI6 famously hacked into computers belonging to al-Qaeda and changed the bomb recipe to one for cupcakes – it happens regularly, but it’s top secret and done behind closed doors.

“My understanding from interactions with the U.S. intelligence community is that this is happening,” Kreps says. “You have an incentive to erode your opponent’s strength. There’s a good motive behind it.” [attacks on] Russia for their involvement in Ukraine and there is good reason to try to disrupt China’s capabilities as they become an equal competitor.

Stevens says Western countries are limited in the scope and targets of their cyber attacks because, unlike some nations, they are bound by a strong rule of law. “I have no doubt that our intelligence services and our security services in general are conducting cyber operations against Russian assets,” Stevens says. “But it’s hard work and there’s always lawyers in the room and we’re kind of limited. I think there’s a lot of frustration with that.”

While Claude is now back and running, Anthropic has not responded to questions from The new scientist about the cause of the outage.

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