On Monday, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing behemoth that powers a vast portion of the internet, encountered significant DNS resolution issues that cascaded into widespread outages affecting many websites globally. The incident starkly highlighted the internet’s deep dependence on hyperscale cloud providers like AWS and underscored the challenges both the providers and their customers face when critical infrastructure falters.
AWS later provided a detailed post-event summary on Thursday, explaining that the root cause of the outage was a failure in the Domain System Registry associated with its DynamoDB service—a NoSQL database critical to many applications. This initial failure triggered a chain reaction that complicated the situation further. A key component affected was the Network Load Balancer service, which manages data flow dynamically across the cloud to prevent bottlenecks. Simultaneously, AWS experienced disruptions in launching new EC2 instances—the virtual machines at the heart of their cloud platform. Unable to spin up new instances to handle incoming traffic, the system became overwhelmed with backlogged requests. The culmination of these problems made recovery a prolonged process, with the entire incident lasting about 15 hours from detection to resolution. AWS acknowledged the significant impact on its customers and pledged to learn from the episode to enhance platform availability going forward.
While AWS grappled with cloud outages, the US Justice Department’s crackdown on a mob-linked gambling scam reverberated through the NBA on Thursday. The indictments revealed that a criminal group, backed by organized crime, had been exploiting hacked card shufflers—specifically, Deckmate 2 devices used in casinos—to defraud victims of millions of dollars. This method of cheating was recently exposed in detail by WIRED, which demonstrated how these card shufflers could be hacked to manipulate outcomes. The case casts a spotlight on the ongoing challenges casinos and regulatory bodies face in combating sophisticated technological cheating schemes fueled by criminal enterprises.
In a separate investigative piece, WIRED broke down the details of a shocking jewelry heist at the Louvre, providing clarity amid swirling rumors. The investigation also dispelled misinformation about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly purchasing guided missile warheads, establishing that this was likely an accounting coding error rather than an actual procurement. This serves as a reminder of how easily public narratives can be distorted by inaccurate data or clerical mistakes.
Meanwhile, in the realm of artificial intelligence, Anthropic—a leading AI company—announced a novel partnership with the US government aimed at developing safeguards to prevent its AI platform, Claude, from assisting individuals in building nuclear weapons. This initiative has elicited mixed reactions from experts, with some questioning the necessity and feasibility of such efforts. The project underscores the growing concern around AI’s potential misuse in highly sensitive and dangerous domains, and the complex balance between innovation and security.
Adding to the week’s cybersecurity concerns, new research revealed that a browser called Universe Browser, downloaded millions of times, behaves like malware and has connections to Asia’s burgeoning cybercrime and illicit gambling networks. This finding raises alarms about the proliferation of malicious software disguised as legitimate tools, particularly those that gain widespread adoption.
Another major cybersecurity development involved a serious vulnerability disclosed by the cloud security firm Edera in several open source libraries responsible for file archiving—a common feature used in software distribution and backups. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-62518, affects “async-tar” and its various forks. The flaw could allow attackers to execute remote code by overwriting critical files, such as configuration files or build backends, thereby compromising systems. While many forks of async-tar have received patches, one popular library, “tokio-tar,” is no longer maintained and thus remains vulnerable, leaving users exposed. Researchers recommend that developers either upgrade to patched versions or migrate to actively maintained forks like “astral-tokio-tar” to mitigate risks.
In a profound humanitarian and security issue, reports emerged that over the last decade, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into forced labor compounds across Southeast Asia—especially in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. Victims in these compounds are coerced into running online scams that have netted billions for organized crime groups. When authorities cut internet access to these compounds, the criminal gangs have increasingly relied on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system to maintain connectivity. A February investigation by WIRED found thousands of phones connecting to Starlink networks at multiple compounds along the Myanmar-Thailand border. Although SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, initially did not respond to inquiries about