Why is the internet broken? How one small problem can take down the whole web - The vast array of platforms, companies, websites and apps available on the internet rely on a very small number of companies,

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing platform that powers much of the internet, went down for several hours Monday, making several major websites and apps inoperable.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) said widespread internet outages have been resolved after impacting many users for much of Monday, preventing access to some popular websites.

Amazon Web Services experienced DNS resolution issues on Monday morning, taking down wide swaths of the web—and highlighting a long-standing weakness in the internet's infrastructure.

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Since a large portion of the internet depends on AWS, the outage cascaded across major firms in disparate industries, leaving some people unable to access airline information or make everyday purchases, Qi Liao, a professor of computer science at Central Michigan University, told ABC News.

When a technical issue disrupted operations at those facilities yesterday, it was enough to temporarily crash the internet for users around the world. The modern web owes that fragility in part to the cloud.

The outage affected websites like Coinbase and Fortnite, and disrupted services like Signal, Zoom, and Amazon's own products, including Ring.

The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year's CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports.