Facebook Outage – Implications for IoT Devices

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06 October 2021

When Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram went down unexpectedly, people and businesses were also unable to access their smart devices.

The outage, which was due to configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between Facebook’s data centres, lasted for almost six hours on Monday 4 October.

It was also reported on Twitter that Facebook employees were unable to enter buildings because of IoT enabled entry points:

Facebook employees can’t enter the headquarters because their badges don’t work, and those already inside can’t enter various rooms because access is linked through the IoT (Internet of Things) and so goes through the same DNS routes that no longer exist:#FacebookDown pic.twitter.com/5dLLVLlHPz

— Siddik Babu (@siddik_babu_) October 4, 2021

Facebook Integration and Logins

Facebook is commonly used by consumers to sign in to many other apps and services, such as shopping websites, thermostats, smart TVs and other internet-connected devices.

Google’s 2019 outage caused a similar ripple effect. It brought down several of its most popular services including Nest, its line of smart home products including smart speakers, smart displays, streaming devices, thermostats, smoke detectors, routers and security systems including smart doorbells, cameras and smart locks.

As Mehdi Daoudi (Co-founder and CEO of Catchpoint) wrote for IoT Agenda, contingency plans should be put in place for such outages, particularly if these integrations affect a mission-critical process in your business:

“Organisations running IoT in the cloud must proceed with caution. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that even the strongest businesses in the cloud industry can — and inevitably will — go down. It’s up to you to take the steps needed to better prevent your IoT project from going down with them. In fact, this is something you can’t afford not to do."

Picture: a photograph of a person using a smartphone with facebook's logo on the screen. The person is crossing out the logo with a stylus

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 06 October 2021

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