Data Centers Are Military Targets Now
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Iran's IRGC launched drone strikes on Amazon-owned data centers in UAE and Bahrain, marking first deliberate targeting of private sector data centers in military history.
How This Affects You
If Amazon Web Services data centers are damaged, cloud services and applications you rely on could experience outages.
AI Summary
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched kamikaze drone strikes against Amazon-owned data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. These attacks occurred three days after the U.S. and Israel began their joint bombardment, causing structural damage and service outages across the region. Iranian state television stated the motive was to highlight the centers' role in supporting enemy military and intelligence activities, not to disrupt civilian services. This marks the first time private sector data centers have been deliberately targeted in military history, raising questions about their status as legal military objectives. Scholars of international law note that when militaries use commercial cloud services, the cloud infrastructure can become a legitimate target, though separating civilian from military use is complex.
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