Wed Oct 29 07:50:00 UTC 2025: Summary:

Cloudflare’s Q3 2025 report reveals a multitude of internet disruptions globally, caused by government shutdowns (to prevent cheating during exams and suppress dissent), infrastructure damage (fiber cuts due to construction, accidents, and even a stray bullet), natural disasters (earthquake, fire), cyberattacks, and even a software failure affecting Starlink. The report highlights the fragility of internet connectivity and the diverse factors that can cause outages, from intentional actions to unforeseen events.

News Article:

Global Internet Connectivity Plagued by Exams, Earthquakes, and Even Stray Bullets in Q3 2025

SAN FRANCISCO – Cloudflare’s latest internet disruption report paints a grim picture of global connectivity during the third quarter of 2025, detailing a range of outages caused by government-imposed shutdowns, infrastructure damage, natural disasters, and cyberattacks.

The report highlights the continued use of internet shutdowns by governments in countries like Iraq, Syria, and Sudan during exam periods, a measure intended to prevent cheating. Syrian officials even boasted about using “advanced electronic technologies” to combat cheating networks. Venezuela also experienced a shutdown when a local provider lost its license.

Infrastructure damage played a significant role in disruptions. Fiber cuts due to public works projects in the Dominican Republic and Angola, a double fiber break in Haiti, and simultaneous cable cuts in the Red Sea all contributed to outages. In a bizarre incident in the United States, a stray bullet damaged a fiber cable in Dallas, Texas, causing a two-hour outage for Spectrum customers.

Natural disasters also left their mark. A fire at a central exchange in Egypt impacted telecommunications services, and an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula caused a significant drop in internet traffic.

Cyberattacks were another culprit, with a targeted attack on YemenNet in Yemen causing a substantial disruption. Even satellite internet was not immune, as Starlink experienced a global outage due to a software failure.

Cloudflare emphasized that its report is not exhaustive but reflects observable anomalies across its network, underscoring the numerous and diverse ways the internet can be disrupted in 2025.

“These anomalies are detected through significant deviations from expected traffic patterns,” the company said, adding that outages can result from human action, infrastructure damage, and accidental events.

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