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At the time of the incident, Google broke the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) with a configuration error, generating fake peer announcements sent to Verizon. This caused Internet service providers like NTT Communications and KDDI Corp to lose Internet connectivity. Some fortunate users experienced slower connections. Even users in Japan with VPNs or the best VPN software couldn't connect to the internet due to this 'local disconnect,' and even Internet service providers (ISPs) couldn't access it.
In Japan, there are currently around 7.7 million users and 480,000 companies using NTT's Internet service, also known as OCN.
Google apologizes after the 'Internet shutdown' incident in Japan
In a statement to the Japanese media, Google acknowledged its mistake and explained that they had rectified the issue within 8 minutes. However, the incident persisted for several hours. The incident occurred around 12:22 PM local time on August 25th. Around 3:50 PM on the same day, some businesses reported that they still had no Internet connection, including online broker Rakuten Securities in Japan.
Google issues an apology following the 'closure' of the Internet in Japan
“We misconfigured network system information, resulting in the incident. However, we promptly corrected the accurate information within 8 minutes. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused,” a Google spokesperson said.
The 'Internet closure' incident has impacted several companies and services in Japan, including online commerce giant Mercari, online flea market app Line, East Japan Railway Company, Resona Bank, and several other companies.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan has initiated an investigation into this incident. According to investigators: “Google unintentionally became a transit service provider for Jastel by announcing peer prefixes to Verizon. As Verizon selected this route to Jastel, it would send network traffic to Google. This not only happened with Jastel but also with thousands of other networks.”
