Tried logging into your mobile banking app this afternoon? If you were met with "Something went wrong", you're not alone. A widespread internet connectivity issue in Australia has hit many Australian companies. These include Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
While the outage started at 2pm, the exact cause has not yet been disclosed. But here's what we know.
Image source: Getty Images
Looking at the commonality
Three of the big four banks, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Allianz, Macquarie Bank, and Virgin Australia have all reported issues across their systems. Reports have suggested these companies share the same content delivery network – Akamai.
Content delivery networks are responsible for the technology that hosts their customers' data. A part of that responsibility is protecting their customers' websites from cyber-attacks and optimising the speed of data access. These are two things that would be essential for ASX-listed CBA and its banking customers.
Only a week ago, Akamai's competitor, Fastly Inc (NYSE: FSLY) experienced a similar outage that left Pinterest, The Financial Times, Reddit, and many other sites unresponsive.
Furthermore, The Australian Financial Review reported that Akamai's Prolexic service may be related to the Australian issue.
It also appears the connectivity issue extends across Asia more broadly.
CBA and RBA after ASX close
At the time of writing, some banks, including CBA, have managed to restore services. Additionally, the RBA has put in place 'appropriate mitigations' to get its website back up and running.
However, the issue did result in the central bank cancelling its bond purchasing program for the day. The RBA had planned to purchase up to $2 billion worth of 11/2028 to 05/2032 bonds.
Lastly, no formal comments have been made by Akamai regarding the situation at this time.
