Trending Now - Drone Attacks Reveal Vulnerabilities in Amazon Data Centers

WHO:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

President Trump (mentioned in context of US military actions)

Iranian military

Local authorities in the UAE and Bahrain

Mike Chapple, IT professor at the University of Notre Dame

Data management firm Snowflake

WHAT:

Three AWS data centers were damaged by drone strikes.

Two facilities in the United Arab Emirates were "directly struck" by drones.

A third facility in Bahrain was damaged by a drone strike "in close proximity."

The strikes caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery, and required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage.

AWS reported elevated error rates and degraded availability for services.

Amazon advised customers to back up data and consider migrating workloads to other regions.

Recovery efforts at the UAE data centers were expected to take at least a day.

Amazon's share price dropped by $3.40, or 1.6%, to $204.99 in early trading.

WHERE:

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Bahrain

Specific AWS facilities referred to as mec1-az2 and mec1-az3 in the UAE, and mes1-az2 in Bahrain.

The headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.

WHEN:

The drone strikes occurred on March 1, 2026.

AWS began investigating disruptions at 12:51 UTC on March 1, 2026.

The fire at the UAE facility was reported around 7:30 a.m. ET on March 1, 2026.

Recovery efforts were still ongoing as of March 3, 2026.

WHY:

The attacks were a response to US and Israeli military strikes on Iran that began on February 28, 2026.

The ongoing conflict in the region has created an unpredictable operating environment for AWS.

HOW:

Drones were used to strike the AWS facilities.

The fire department shut off power to the affected facilities to contain the fire.

AWS facilities are designed with redundant systems but were still vulnerable to physical attacks.

On March 1, three Amazon Web Services data centers were damaged by drone strikes, with two facilities in the United Arab Emirates directly hit and a third in Bahrain affected nearby. The attacks, which occurred in response to US and Israeli military actions against Iran, caused significant structural damage and disrupted power delivery, leading to elevated error rates and degraded availability for AWS services. Local authorities reported that recovery efforts at the UAE facilities would take at least a day, while Amazon advised customers to back up their data and consider migrating workloads to other regions. As a result of the incident, Amazon's share price fell by $3.40 to $204.99 in early trading. The ongoing conflict in the region has created an unpredictable operating environment for AWS, prompting an investigation into the disruptions that began shortly after the strikes.