Subj : Disasters, shutdowns, and
To   : All
From : Mike Powell
Date : Mon Nov 03 2025 09:22:27

Disasters, shutdowns, and cable damage galore - Cloudflare study reveals
what's really been behind all the recent Internet outages

Date:
Sun, 02 Nov 2025 20:30:00 +0000

Description:
Cloudflares Q3 report reveals how government shutdowns, natural disasters, 
and cable damage continue to cripple global internet connectivity worldwide.

FULL STORY

Cloudflares Q3 Internet Disruptions report paints a troubling picture of how
fragile global connectivity remains, even in an era of advanced networking 
and sophisticated DDoS protection . 

Between July and September 2025, the company tracked outages triggered by
events ranging from natural disasters and cyberattacks to government-imposed
restrictions and accidental cable damage. 

Using data from its network that spans more than 330 cities across 125
countries, Cloudflare documented what it called a wide variety of known 
causes behind widespread service interruptions.

Government orders remains one of the biggest culprits

Internet blackouts imposed by state authorities remain one of the most
frequent disruptions worldwide. 

Iraq, Syria, and Sudan once again shut down online access during national 
exam periods, a practice that has become routine in these regions. 

Officials in Syria even claimed success in targeting organized exam cheating
networks, suggesting that such outages were part of a broader enforcement
strategy. 

Elsewhere, Venezuela saw a more unusual case when provider SuperCable was
ordered offline after losing its license, cutting connectivity for thousands
of users in mid-August. 

Cloudflare described these cases as consistent with previous patterns of
short, repeated, and localized restrictions. 

The report shows how easily physical networks can fail by chance or neglect. 
A stray bullet in Texas damaged a fiber line, causing a two-hour outage for
Spectrum users. 

In the Dominican Republic and Angola, construction work severed cables,
halting connections for hours. 

Similar problems appeared in Pakistan, Haiti, and the United Arab Emirates,
where simultaneous Red Sea cable cuts brought cross-country traffic to a
standstill. 

Cloudflares findings suggest that no amount of routing optimization or
firewall management can offset the weaknesses of physical infrastructure once
it is damaged. 

Natural and accidental disasters added to the quarters turmoil. In Egypt, a
fire at the Ramses Central Exchange cut off major providers such as Vodafone
and Orange. 

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Russias Kamchatka Peninsula crippled regional
traffic almost instantly. 

Even space-based services were affected. Starlink reported a global outage on
July 24 after failure of key internal software services that operate the core
network. 

Global internet access remains vulnerable to a range of threats, from
cyberattacks to the limits of basic infrastructure. Outages can result from
the most unexpected sources. 

Cloudflare noted that its summary is not an exhaustive or complete list, yet
the evidence points to one clear reality: the global network may be vast, yet
it remains breakable. 

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/disasters-shutdowns-and-cable-damage-galore-clou
dflare-study-reveals-whats-really-been-behind-all-the-recent-internet-outages

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