In an increasingly interconnected world, the stability of the internet is often taken for granted—until it's not. On November 18, 2025, a major disruption at Cloudflare, one of the internet's foundational infrastructure providers, sent shockwaves across the globe, affecting millions of users and businesses.
This outage not only highlighted the fragility of our digital ecosystem but also had pronounced effects on regions like Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where reliance on online services for news, commerce, and finance is growing rapidly. In this article, we'll dive into the details of what happened, the timeline of events, and the specific impacts on BiH's economy and daily operations.
According to Cloudflare's official status updates, the problem was identified by 13:09 UTC, and a fix was implemented by 14:34 UTC. The incident was officially declared resolved by 14:42 UTC, with traffic and services returning to normal levels by 17:14 UTC. However, during the peak of the disruption, key Cloudflare features like Bot Management, CDN/Cache, Dashboard, Firewall, Network, and Workers were severely impacted. Additional complications included temporary disables of services like WARP in specific locations, such as London, though these were quickly re-enabled.
The root cause wasn't explicitly detailed in immediate reports, but it appeared to stem from an internal service issue rather than an external attack or maintenance gone awry—though scheduled maintenance in datacenters like Sydney and Seoul occurred concurrently, these were unrelated. This outage echoed previous incidents, such as Cloudflare's disruptions in June 2025 and earlier in the year, underscoring ongoing challenges in scaling global infrastructure.
Globally, the outage affected a broad swath of popular services, including social media platform X (formerly Twitter), AI tool ChatGPT, streaming service Spotify, messaging app Discord, and even transit systems in some areas. Websites hosted or protected by Cloudflare went dark or loaded slowly, leading to widespread frustration and temporary halts in online activities.
Economically, such disruptions can cost billions. A similar Cloudflare outage in 2022 affected major players like Google and AWS, illustrating how interconnected systems amplify risks. For businesses, this means lost revenue from downtime—e-commerce sites couldn't process sales, advertisers saw campaigns stall, and remote workers faced productivity dips. The incident also raised questions about over-reliance on a handful of providers like Cloudflare, which handles traffic for over 20% of the world's websites.
Prominent news websites like Klix.ba and Avaz.ba, which serve as primary sources of information for Bosnians, became inaccessible during the outage. Users attempting to access these sites encountered Cloudflare error pages, such as "Internal Server Error" or connection failures, effectively creating a news blackout for several hours. This disrupted the flow of real-time information on local events, politics, and emergencies, potentially affecting public awareness and decision-making.
Beyond media, the outage rippled into other sectors. Online services and applications, including those integrated with global platforms like X and ChatGPT, were unavailable, hampering communication and entertainment. E-commerce and productivity tools faced interruptions, with hundreds of portals and apps in BiH and neighboring countries like Croatia and Slovenia reporting issues. This led to a noticeable dip in internet traffic across the region.
One of the most critical impacts was on banking and payment systems. In BiH, where digital payments are increasingly common, the outage caused glitches in transactions, online banking, and e-wallets. Businesses reliant on these systems experienced delays in processing orders and payments, leading to short-term financial losses. For a country with a growing fintech sector, this underscored the risks of dependency on foreign infrastructure providers.
Economically, the effects were multifaceted. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in BiH, many of which use Cloudflare-protected platforms for their websites, saw reduced online visibility and sales. The tourism industry, which promotes via digital channels, and export-oriented businesses faced communication breakdowns with international partners. While no official figures on losses in BiH have been released yet, similar global outages have cost economies millions per hour—extrapolating to BiH's scale, the impact could run into hundreds of thousands of euros in lost productivity alone.
Socially, the outage amplified frustrations among users, with reports of widespread complaints on alternative platforms once services resumed. It also highlighted digital divides: Urban areas like Sarajevo might recover quickly, but rural regions with already spotty connectivity suffered more prolonged effects.
As BiH continues its path toward EU integration and digital economy growth, events like this emphasize the need for resilience. Cloudflare has resolved the issue and is monitoring for stability, but the conversation around global internet reliability is far from over.
This outage not only highlighted the fragility of our digital ecosystem but also had pronounced effects on regions like Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where reliance on online services for news, commerce, and finance is growing rapidly. In this article, we'll dive into the details of what happened, the timeline of events, and the specific impacts on BiH's economy and daily operations.
What Happened: The Timeline of the Outage
Cloudflare, a content delivery network (CDN) and cybersecurity firm that powers a significant portion of the web, experienced a widespread internal service degradation starting early on November 18, 2025. The issues began at approximately 11:48 UTC, manifesting as intermittent errors, high latency, and outright unavailability for many services. Users worldwide reported "500 Internal Server Errors," "502 Bad Gateway" messages, and degraded performance across platforms reliant on Cloudflare's infrastructure.According to Cloudflare's official status updates, the problem was identified by 13:09 UTC, and a fix was implemented by 14:34 UTC. The incident was officially declared resolved by 14:42 UTC, with traffic and services returning to normal levels by 17:14 UTC. However, during the peak of the disruption, key Cloudflare features like Bot Management, CDN/Cache, Dashboard, Firewall, Network, and Workers were severely impacted. Additional complications included temporary disables of services like WARP in specific locations, such as London, though these were quickly re-enabled.
The root cause wasn't explicitly detailed in immediate reports, but it appeared to stem from an internal service issue rather than an external attack or maintenance gone awry—though scheduled maintenance in datacenters like Sydney and Seoul occurred concurrently, these were unrelated. This outage echoed previous incidents, such as Cloudflare's disruptions in June 2025 and earlier in the year, underscoring ongoing challenges in scaling global infrastructure.
Globally, the outage affected a broad swath of popular services, including social media platform X (formerly Twitter), AI tool ChatGPT, streaming service Spotify, messaging app Discord, and even transit systems in some areas. Websites hosted or protected by Cloudflare went dark or loaded slowly, leading to widespread frustration and temporary halts in online activities.
The Ripple Effects: Global Disruptions and Broader Implications
The outage's global reach was staggering, impacting users in countries from the United States to Europe and beyond. In the U.S., for instance, it disrupted e-commerce, social interactions, and even AI-driven productivity tools like ChatGPT, which millions rely on for work and education. In Europe, partial outages were reported in locations like Izmir, Turkey, hinting at broader continental effects.Economically, such disruptions can cost billions. A similar Cloudflare outage in 2022 affected major players like Google and AWS, illustrating how interconnected systems amplify risks. For businesses, this means lost revenue from downtime—e-commerce sites couldn't process sales, advertisers saw campaigns stall, and remote workers faced productivity dips. The incident also raised questions about over-reliance on a handful of providers like Cloudflare, which handles traffic for over 20% of the world's websites.
Specific Impacts on Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Local Lens
While the outage was global, its effects were acutely felt in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country where digital transformation is accelerating but infrastructure vulnerabilities persist. BiH's online ecosystem heavily depends on Cloudflare for content delivery and protection, making local portals particularly susceptible.Prominent news websites like Klix.ba and Avaz.ba, which serve as primary sources of information for Bosnians, became inaccessible during the outage. Users attempting to access these sites encountered Cloudflare error pages, such as "Internal Server Error" or connection failures, effectively creating a news blackout for several hours. This disrupted the flow of real-time information on local events, politics, and emergencies, potentially affecting public awareness and decision-making.
Beyond media, the outage rippled into other sectors. Online services and applications, including those integrated with global platforms like X and ChatGPT, were unavailable, hampering communication and entertainment. E-commerce and productivity tools faced interruptions, with hundreds of portals and apps in BiH and neighboring countries like Croatia and Slovenia reporting issues. This led to a noticeable dip in internet traffic across the region.
One of the most critical impacts was on banking and payment systems. In BiH, where digital payments are increasingly common, the outage caused glitches in transactions, online banking, and e-wallets. Businesses reliant on these systems experienced delays in processing orders and payments, leading to short-term financial losses. For a country with a growing fintech sector, this underscored the risks of dependency on foreign infrastructure providers.
Economically, the effects were multifaceted. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in BiH, many of which use Cloudflare-protected platforms for their websites, saw reduced online visibility and sales. The tourism industry, which promotes via digital channels, and export-oriented businesses faced communication breakdowns with international partners. While no official figures on losses in BiH have been released yet, similar global outages have cost economies millions per hour—extrapolating to BiH's scale, the impact could run into hundreds of thousands of euros in lost productivity alone.
Socially, the outage amplified frustrations among users, with reports of widespread complaints on alternative platforms once services resumed. It also highlighted digital divides: Urban areas like Sarajevo might recover quickly, but rural regions with already spotty connectivity suffered more prolonged effects.
Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
This Cloudflare outage serves as a stark reminder of the internet's single points of failure. For businesses in BiH, diversifying CDN providers, implementing redundancy measures, and investing in local infrastructure could mitigate future risks. Policymakers might consider regulations to ensure critical services have backup plans, while companies should conduct regular audits of their digital dependencies.As BiH continues its path toward EU integration and digital economy growth, events like this emphasize the need for resilience. Cloudflare has resolved the issue and is monitoring for stability, but the conversation around global internet reliability is far from over.
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