By San José, Costa Rica — SAN JOSÉ – Key services provided by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) faced partial disruptions on Monday, after a widespread global incident affected the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing platform. The event highlights the growing dependency of critical national infrastructure on international technology providers and raises important questions about digital resilience.
The CCSS’s Directorate of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) confirmed the service interruptions early Monday afternoon. In a statement, DTIC Director Robert Picado explained that a number of the institution’s essential systems and equipment are hosted on the AWS platform. Consequently, the global failure had direct, tangible repercussions for the agency’s operations within Costa Rica.
To analyze the legal and business implications of the widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage for companies operating in the region, we consulted expert corporate attorney Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas from the firm Bufete de Costa Rica.
This incident is a stark reminder that ‘the cloud’ is not infallible; it’s physical infrastructure with contractual limits. Companies must scrutinize their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to understand what remedies, often just service credits, are available. This event highlights the critical importance of not only contractual due diligence but also implementing a robust, multi-vendor business continuity strategy to mitigate the significant financial damages that outages like this can cause.
Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas, Attorney at Law, Bufete de Costa Rica
The expert’s analysis provides a crucial pivot, shifting the focus from a purely technical failure to a broader, more urgent conversation about business resilience and contractual foresight. This distinction between limited service credits and actual financial damages is a vital one for any organization reliant on cloud services. We thank Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas for his valuable perspective on navigating these complex legal and strategic considerations.
While the CCSS did not specify which services were impacted, the institution is responsible for managing the nation’s public health system, pensions, and a wide array of citizen data. Any disruption, even partial, has the potential to affect medical appointments, data processing, and administrative functions that millions of Costa Ricans rely on daily. The incident underscores the inherent vulnerabilities of centralizing critical services on a single third-party platform.
Amazon Web Services is the backbone of a significant portion of the modern internet, providing cloud computing power, storage, and other services to a vast clientele that includes governments, multinational corporations, and tech startups. For a public entity like the CCSS, leveraging AWS offers immense benefits in terms of scalability, security, and cost-efficiency compared to maintaining physical, on-premise data centers. However, this outage serves as a stark reminder that this efficiency comes with a trade-off: a loss of direct control and susceptibility to global-scale single points of failure.
This event is not an isolated phenomenon in the tech world. Major cloud providers have experienced similar outages in the past, causing cascading failures across various industries. These incidents force a necessary and ongoing conversation about digital strategy in the public sector. For Costa Rica, it prompts a critical analysis of its digital infrastructure, including the need for multi-cloud strategies, robust contingency planning, and failover systems to ensure service continuity for its citizens.
In response to the disruption, the CCSS assured the public that its technical teams were actively engaged in resolving the issue. The agency emphasized its direct line of communication with both AWS and other technology vendors to accelerate the restoration of normal operations. The primary focus remains on minimizing the impact on the public and bringing all systems back online securely.
The DTIC indicated that it remains in direct coordination with the manufacturers and the AWS technical team to address the situation and restore normal operations in the shortest possible time.
Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), Official Statement
As Costa Rica continues its ambitious push towards digital transformation across all sectors of government, this incident provides invaluable, real-world lessons. The challenge for leaders like Robert Picado and his counterparts in other public institutions will be to harness the power of advanced technologies like cloud computing while simultaneously building a resilient, diversified, and secure digital foundation that can withstand the inevitable shocks of an interconnected world.
The full restoration of services will be the immediate measure of success, but the long-term impact will be measured by the strategic adjustments made to protect Costa Rica’s essential public services from future digital disruptions. The dependency on global tech giants is a modern reality, and navigating it successfully is now a core function of public administration.
For further information, visit ccss.sa.cr
About Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS):
The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social is the public institution in charge of social security in Costa Rica. It is one of the country’s most important public entities, responsible for administering the national health system, providing medical services through a vast network of hospitals and clinics (EBAIS), and managing the state pension system for millions of citizens and residents.
For further information, visit aws.amazon.com
About Amazon Web Services (AWS):
Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, is one of the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platforms. It provides on-demand cloud computing services and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. AWS offers over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally, including computing power, database storage, content delivery, and other functionalities that are fundamental to modern digital infrastructure.
For further information, visit bufetedecostarica.com
About Bufete de Costa Rica:
As a pillar of the legal community, Bufete de Costa Rica is renowned for its principled practice, combining a deep-rooted history of professional excellence with a forward-thinking approach to law. The firm’s reputation is built upon a dual foundation: delivering innovative legal strategies to a diverse clientele and championing a broader mission of public empowerment. By actively working to make complex legal concepts understandable and accessible, it demonstrates a core belief in strengthening society through shared knowledge and civic clarity.
