Major Online Outage Impacts Dozens Sites and Apps

A large-scale web failure has affected many websites and mobile apps globally, as users experiencing problems accessing the internet following issues at Amazon’s cloud computing system.

The disrupted platforms comprise Snapchat, the gaming platform Roblox, the messaging service Signal, and Duolingo, along with several Amazon-operated services including its main retail platform and the Ring security device manufacturer.

Throughout Britain, Lloyds bank was impacted as well as its branches Halifax and Bank of Scotland, while there were additional accounts of difficulties reaching the HM Revenue and Customs online portal on that morning. Also in the UK, several Ring customers took to social media to report their home gadgets were failing.

Just within Britain, accounts of problems on specific platforms reached the tens of thousands for each platform.

Officials confirmed that the issue originated in the east coast of the America at AWS, a division that provides essential online backbone for a host of companies, who rent out capacity on AWS infrastructure. AWS is the biggest global web hosting platform.

Just after midnight (PDT) in the United States (8am BST), Amazon confirmed “elevated problem frequencies and latencies” for the cloud services in a zone on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. The cascading impact appeared to hit services around the world, and the Downdetector site reporting outages with the corresponding services in different parts of the world.

The outage tracker Thousand Eyes, a tool that monitors web disruptions, additionally noted a surge in outages on that morning, and numerous instances situated in Virginia, the location of the eastern US data center where the company stated the issues originated.