Significant Online Failure Impacts Many Sites and Apps

A large-scale web disruption has affected dozens sites and applications globally, with users reporting problems accessing the internet after problems at Amazon’s online infrastructure system.

The disrupted services include Snapchat, Roblox, Signal, and Duolingo, along with several Amazon-managed platforms including its key e-commerce website and the Ring device manufacturer.

Across the United Kingdom, the financial institution Lloyds was impacted as well as its branches the bank Halifax and the Scottish bank, and also reports of problems accessing the HM Revenue and Customs online portal on Monday morning. Additionally in Britain, multiple Ring device owners took to networks to complain their doorbells were malfunctioning.

Just within Britain, notifications of issues on particular platforms reached the tens of thousands for each platform.

Amazon reported that the problem started in the east coast of the US at Amazon Web Services, a section that provides essential online infrastructure for a host of companies, who lease capacity on AWS infrastructure. The cloud platform is the most extensive online services service.

Soon after the start of the day (PDT) in the United States (8 in the morning BST), Amazon confirmed “higher failure rates and delays” for AWS services in a zone on the east coast of the US. The ripple effect seemed to affect apps worldwide, and the outage tracking website showing issues with the corresponding services in various regions.

Cisco’s Thousand Eyes, a platform that tracks internet outages, further indicated a rise in issues on that morning, and numerous instances found in the Virginia area, the location of the eastern US data center where officials confirmed the outage started.