世界でまたネット障害　メガバンクや航空大手に影響

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】世界各地で１７日、インターネット障害がまた発生し、メガバンクや航空会社などのウェブサイトが閲覧できなくなった。原因は米拠点のコンテンツ配信ネットワークサービス企業「アカマイ・テクノロジーズ」のシステム障害だった。（写真は資料写真）
　影響を受けたのは米航空大手のアメリカン航空、デルタ航空、ユナイテッド航空、サウスウエスト航空の他、航空大手ヴァージン・オーストラリアとオーストラリア・コモンウェルス銀行など。ウェブサイトやモバイルアプリが１時間にわたりアクセス不可となった。
　アカマイ広報はＡＦＰの取材に対し、「問題を認識しており、なるべく早いサービス復旧に向け、対応を急いでいる」と述べた。
　ネット障害は先週にも発生。米ホワイトハウスを含む政府機関の他、米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズやソーシャルニュースサイトのレディット、米小売り・ＩＴ大手アマゾン・ドットコムなどのウェブサイトが、米クラウドサービス企業ファストリーのシステム障害により一時閲覧できなくなった。
　問題が相次いだことで、経済活動で必要不可欠なオンラインプラットフォームの安定性や、ほぼ無名の少数の企業がインターネットの機能維持に重要な役割を担っている実態が露呈し、注目が集まっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/18-20:58）

Major banks and airlines were among businesses hit by a fresh global online outage Thursday, with the problem traced to US-based tech provider Akamai.
An hour-long blackout hit a number of US airlines and several Australian financial firms as well as other companies dotted around the world, with angry customers unable to access websites and mobile apps.
We are aware of the issue and actively working to restore services as soon as possible, an Akamai spokesperson told AFP.
American, Delta, United and Southwest airlines were among those affected, while the issue appeared to be more prolonged in Australia -- where problems struck mid-afternoon as much of the world slept.
Australia's largest financial firm Commonwealth Bank told AFP that it and many of the country's major lenders had been hit.
The outages, which began around 2:10pm Sydney time (0510 GMT), also hit Australia's postal service and Virgin Australia.
The airline said in a statement that it was one of many organisations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system.
A spokesperson for ANZ bank told AFP the incident was related to an external provider but that connectivity was restored quickly and the most impacted services are back online.
Banks in New Zealand and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also reported problems with their web platforms.
It is the latest incident to draw attention to the stability of economically vital online platforms and the key role that a handful of mostly unknown companies play in keeping the web running.
Last week US media and government websites, including the White House, New York Times, Reddit and Amazon were temporarily hit after a glitch with cloud computing services provider Fastly.
Fastly offers a service to websites around the world to speed up loading times for websites.
Akamai offers a range of similar IT products designed to boost online performance and security.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company refused to comment on what product the problem came from, but one of the affected firms reported it used Akamai for IT network authentication.
Among the services Akamai provides are platforms that prevent DDoS attacks -- an often crude cyberattack that knocks websites out by peppering them with requests for data.
Our priority is restoring service as quickly as possible. We will share additional information as it becomes available, an Akamai spokesperson said.
A series of high-profile hack-for-ransom attacks have also left corporations around the world jittery over cybersecurity risks, although there was no indication the latest problems were caused by malicious actors.
Colonial Pipeline was briefly shuttered after an attack in May, and JBS, the world's largest meat producer, was forced to stop operations in the United States and Australia.
Both firms reportedly paid ransoms to get operations back up and running.
The issue of cybersecurity was at the top of the agenda when US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Geneva on Wednesday.
Washington believes hackers who have extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from Western governments, companies, and organisations operate from Russian soil.