---
title: "The Cloudflare Global Outage: Half of the Internet Went Down Today"
description: Cloudflare's major outage today disrupted X, Spotify, OpenAI, Canva and many more. Here is what we know and what it means for medium-sized organisations.
image: https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/The%20Cloudflare%20Global%20Outage.png
---
[](https://www.grantmcgregor.co.uk/)
- [Home](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/)
- About Us
- [Our Story](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/our-story)
- [Meet the Team](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-team)
- [Certifications](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/certifications)
- [Careers](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/careers)
- IT Support Services
- [IT Support Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services)
- [People Centric Support](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/people-centric-support)
- [Enhanced Security Service](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/enhanced-security-service)
- Professional IT Services
- [Professional IT Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services)
- [Microsoft 365](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-365-business-premium)
- [Microsoft Copilot](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-365-copilot)
- [AI Adoption Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/ai-adoption-services)
- [Microsoft Azure](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-azure)
- [MDR](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/mdr-vs-soc-cyber-security-defence)
- [Microsoft Teams Phone](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-teams-phone)
- [KnowBe4](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/knowbe4)
- [DMARC](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/dmarc)
- [Enclave Networks](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/enclave-networks)
- [Cyber Security](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/cyber-security)
- Knowledge Hub
- [Case Studies](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/case-studies)
- [Testimonials](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/success-stories)
- [Blog](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/blog)
- [Podcast](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/podcast)
- [Client Area](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/client-area)
- [Contact us](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
- [Home](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/)
- About Us
- [Our Story](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/our-story)
- [Meet the Team](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-team)
- [Certifications](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/certifications)
- [Careers](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/careers)
- IT Support Services
- [IT Support Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services)
- [People Centric Support](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/people-centric-support)
- [Enhanced Security Service](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/enhanced-security-service)
- Professional IT Services
- [Professional IT Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services)
- [Microsoft 365](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-365-business-premium)
- [Microsoft Copilot](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-365-copilot)
- [AI Adoption Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/ai-adoption-services)
- [Microsoft Azure](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-azure)
- [MDR](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/mdr-vs-soc-cyber-security-defence)
- [Microsoft Teams Phone](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/microsoft-teams-phone)
- [KnowBe4](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/knowbe4)
- [DMARC](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/dmarc)
- [Enclave Networks](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services/enclave-networks)
- [Cyber Security](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/cyber-security)
- Knowledge Hub
- [Case Studies](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/case-studies)
- [Testimonials](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/success-stories)
- [Blog](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/blog)
- [Podcast](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/podcast)
- [Client Area](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/client-area)
- [Contact us](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
[Contact Us](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
[Back to main](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/blog)
IT Strategy
# The Cloudflare Global Outage: Half of the Internet Went Down Today
Grant McGregor Team
18 November 2025 • 5 min read
It's been a rollercoaster of a day across the internet, with platforms going offline, recovering and failing again as Cloudflare worked through a major incident.
Large parts of the internet experienced significant disruption today after Cloudflare, one of the world's most widely used internet infrastructure providers, suffered a major outage. The issue has affected a wide range of services including X, Spotify, OpenAI, Canva, Facebook, LinkedIn... and even Downdetector, the platform normally used to track such outages, struggled to stay online.
Users across the UK and globally reported 500-error messages, failed requests and services that simply refused to load.
# What we know so far
Shortly after 11:20 am UK time, Cloudflare detected a "spike in unusual traffic" to one of its services. This triggered an internal service degradation, quickly leading to widespread errors across parts of Cloudflare's global network.
## Today's timeline:
- **11:20 am**
Cloudflare identifies a sudden increase in unusual traffic to one of its core services.
- **11:48 am**
The company confirms reports of widespread 500 errors, dashboard failures and API timeouts.
- **12:03 - 12:37 pm**
Investigation continues. Error rates rise. The impact broadens.
- **12:21 pm**
Although partial recovery has been observed, issues persist and Cloudflare has warned of higher-than-normal error rates.
- **Early afternoon**
Major platforms including X, Spotify, OpenAI, Canva and AWS-hosted services begin experiencing outages or degraded performance.
- **Shortly after**
Downdetector becomes unstable, limiting visibility into outage reports as demand spikes.
- **1:04 pm**
Cloudflare temporarily disables WARP access in London as part of remediation work.
- **1:09 pm**
Cloudflare announces the issue has been identified and a fix is being deployed.
- **1:13 pm**
Access and WARP services are restored and WARP access is re-enabled in London.
- **1:35 - 1:58 pm**
Cloudflare continues restoring broader application services for affected customers.
- **2:22 - 2:34 pm**
Dashboard functionality is restored and application-level remediation continues.
- **2:42 pm**
Cloudflare states that a fix has been implemented and the incident is believed to be resolved, with monitoring underway.
- **2:57 - 3:23 pm**
Some users are still reporting problems when trying to log into the Cloudflare dashboard. Monitoring continues.
While recovery is well underway, Cloudflare notes that some users may still notice intermittent issues as services continue to stabilise.
# Why today’s outage is significant
Cloudflare underpins a substantial portion of the modern internet.
Its services sit behind content delivery, DNS, DDoS protection, application security and the day-to-day operation of countless cloud-based platforms.
Because Cloudflare is embedded so deeply across the web, an outage of this scale is immediately visible, even to organisations that never interact with Cloudflare directly.
# Stay informed
Cloudflare is updating its incident status at [cloudflarestatus.com](https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/) throughout the day, where users can see which services have recovered and where issues remain.
# Impact on medium-sized organisations
For businesses with 25 to 250 users, today has brought to light the many important factors that can affect day-to-day operations.
1\. Indirect dependencies can become immediate points of failure
Many organisations depend on tools that rely on Cloudflare behind the scenes. CRMs, HR systems, online portals, billing systems, authentication services and collaboration tools may all use Cloudflare's infrastructure without the organisation ever realising it.
When an outage occurs, those hidden links become clear very quickly.
2\. Service reliability is tied to customer perception
Clients may never know that Cloudflare is part of your service. What they notice is the outcome. Even when the root cause is outside your environment, trust and user experience are still affected if a platform slows down or becomes unavailable.
3\. Cloud resilience is not guaranteed
Recent large-scale outages have highlighted the dependence of modern organisations on external providers. Rather than assuming that everything will always be available online, it has become essential to plan for business continuity.
# What organisations can take from today
Several key lessons stand out.
- Review third-party dependencies. Many critical systems rely on upstream providers that are not always obvious.
- Reduce reliance on single routes or services, particularly for DNS, routing and authentication.
- Design systems to function in degraded mode so that essential processes can continue even when cloud services falter.
- Strengthen internal communication so teams know what to expect during a disruption.
- Monitor upstream performance to understand provider health and respond more quickly.
# How Grant McGregor can help
Events like today's highlight how interconnected the modern internet has become and how quickly issues at an infrastructure provider can lead to business disruption.
While no organisation can prevent a global Cloudflare outage, the structure of your own environment determines how severely you are affected.
At Grant McGregor, we help organisations strengthen their resilience by:
- Introducing secondary DNS options
- Building backup paths to critical cloud services
- Reducing reliance on any single vendor or single route
- Mapping hidden dependencies across the technology stack
- Ensuring continuity plans reflect the reality of modern cloud systems
- While these measures cannot eliminate global outages, they can significantly reduce downtime, disruption and reputational impact.
## You only realise how resilient your organisation is when external systems fail and your business keeps going.
# Call us: 0808 164 4142
Message us: [https://www.grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us](https://www.grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
[](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/6138324/ee2a578f-e4c7-437c-bcdc-7f04f9d1e161)
Grant McGregor Team
18 November 2025 • 5 min read
## Recent Posts
### Shadow AI: Is Your Business Ready for AI Adoption?
Understand shadow AI's impact on your business. Discover how to assess risks, improve processes, and adopt AI securely w...
[Read More](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/shadow-ai-is-your-business-ready-for-ai-adoption)
### Our Net Zero Target for 2040: What Can We Change?
From company vehicles and travel to suppliers and technology, see how Grant McGregor is working towards its net zero tar...
[Read More](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/our-net-zero-target-for-2040-what-can-we-change)
### What Is Penetration Testing? A Guide for Businesses
Learn what penetration testing is, how it works, what the report should include and when your business should consider a...
[Read More](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/what-is-penetration-testing-a-guide-for-businesses)
### Grant McGregor Recognised as a Leading Global MSP in the 2026 MSP 501
Grant McGregor has been named a Top Global Managed Service Provider in the 2026 MSP 501, ranking #1 Scotland-based MSP a...
[Read More](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/grant-mcgregor-recognised-as-a-leading-global-msp-in-the-2026-msp-501)
Union
## Empower your business with secure, expert-led solutions.
Talk to us about people-focused technology that drives results.
[Start a conversation](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
Premium IT Services Tailored for Leading Brands
[Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-mcgregor-ltd/) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.youtube.com/itgrantmcgregor) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/grantmcgregorltd/) [Follow us on Twitter](https://x.com/GrantMcGregorIT)
Quick Links
- [Home](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk)
- [About us](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/about-us/our-story)
- [Knowledge Hub](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/knowledge-hub/blog)
- [Contact us](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us)
Services
- [People Centric Support](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/people-centric-support)
- [Enhanced Security Service](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/it-support-services/enhanced-security-service)
- [Professional IT Services](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/professional-it-services)
- [Cyber Security](https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/cyber-security)
Edinburgh – Chesterfield
[0131 603 7910](tel:+441316037910)
[info@grantmcgregor.co.uk](mailto:info@grantmcgregor.co.uk)
**Main Office:**
The Merchants' Hall,
22 Hanover St,
Edinburgh EH2 2EP
© 2026
Grant McGregor. All rights reserved.
[Privacy and Cookie Policy](https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/UsefulDownloads/Policies/GRMC-SEC-Privacy-and-Cookie-Policy.pdf)
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "BlogPosting",
"author" : {
"@type" : "Person",
"name" : "Grant McGregor Team",
"url" : "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/author/grmc-team"
},
"dateModified" : "2025-11-19T10:39:04.879Z",
"datePublished" : "2025-11-18T16:25:02.000Z",
"headline" : "The Cloudflare Global Outage: Half of the Internet Went Down Today",
"image" : [ "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/The%20Cloudflare%20Global%20Outage.png" ],
"mainEntityOfPage" : {
"@id" : "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/the-cloudflare-global-outage",
"@type" : "WebPage"
},
"publisher" : {
"@type" : "Organization",
"logo" : {
"@type" : "ImageObject",
"url" : "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/GRMC_blue_logo.svg"
},
"name" : "Grant McGregor"
}
}
```
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@id" : "https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/",
"@type" : "LocalBusiness",
"address" : {
"@type" : "PostalAddress",
"addressCountry" : "GB",
"addressLocality" : "Edinburgh",
"postalCode" : "EH2 2EP",
"streetAddress" : "22 Hanover Street"
},
"geo" : {
"@type" : "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude" : 55.9526313,
"longitude" : -3.1970679
},
"image" : "https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/GRMC_blue_logo.svg",
"name" : "Grant McGregor",
"openingHoursSpecification" : {
"@type" : "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"closes" : "18:00",
"dayOfWeek" : [ "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday" ],
"opens" : "08:00"
},
"sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/grantmcgregorltd/", "https://x.com/GrantMcGregorIT", "https://www.youtube.com/itgrantmcgregor", "https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-mcgregor-ltd/" ],
"telephone" : "+441316037910",
"url" : "https://grantmcgregor.co.uk/"
}
```
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "BlogPosting",
"author" : {
"@type" : "Person",
"name" : "Grant McGregor team"
},
"dateModified" : "2025-11-19",
"datePublished" : "2025-11-18",
"headline" : "The Cloudflare Global Outage: Half of the Internet Went Down Today",
"image" : {
"@type" : "ImageObject",
"height" : 1050,
"url" : "https://info.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/The Cloudflare Global Outage.png",
"width" : 1800
},
"mainEntityOfPage" : {
"@id" : "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/the-cloudflare-global-outage",
"@type" : "WebPage"
},
"publisher" : {
"@type" : "Organization",
"logo" : {
"@type" : "ImageObject",
"url" : "https://info.grantmcgregor.co.uk/hubfs/GM-logo-399.png"
},
"name" : "Grant McGregor"
},
"url" : "https://blog.grantmcgregor.co.uk/the-cloudflare-global-outage"
}
```