Master the Matrix

Cloudflare's Global Outage: Understanding the Root Cause Behind the September 18 Network Disruption On 18 September, the world witnessed a sudden and widespread slowdown of the internet. Websites and applications depending on Cloudflare ranging from social networks to API driven platforms began returning Internal Server Error messages. Millions of users assumed it was a cyberattack, a DDoS event, or a breach. However, the truth behind the outage was far more nuanced and rooted in Cloudflare’s internal architecture. This blog breaks down what Cloudflare does, why bot mitigation plays a critical role, how an unexpected configuration file led to an internal service crash, and why “unusual traffic” triggered a global ripple. What Cloudflare Really Does for the Internet Cloudflare is more than a simple CDN or firewall it is a massive reverse-proxy network that sits between users and websites. It accelerates content delivery, filters malicious traffic, provides DNS services, manage...