Significant Internet Failure Hits Many Websites and Mobile Apps

A large-scale internet disruption has impacted numerous websites and applications around the world, with users noting troubles accessing the internet following issues at Amazon’s web hosting service.

The affected platforms encompass Snapchat, the gaming platform Roblox, Signal, and the language learning app Duolingo, along with several Amazon-owned platforms including its key e-commerce platform and the Ring security home security firm.

In the UK, the financial institution Lloyds was impacted in addition to its branches the bank Halifax and the Scottish bank, and further notifications of problems reaching the HM Revenue and Customs online portal on the start of the week. Also in the UK, multiple Ring users took to online platforms to complain their security devices were not working.

In the UK alone, reports of problems on individual apps reached the tens of thousands for each platform.

Amazon reported that the outage began in the east coast of the United States at Amazon Web Services, a section that offers vital internet infrastructure for a host of businesses, who lease capacity on Amazon servers. Amazon Web Services is the world’s largest online services platform.

Shortly after midnight (PDT) in the US (8am BST), Amazon confirmed “higher error rates and slowdowns” for Amazon's platforms in a zone on the eastern US of the America. The ripple effect was seen to disrupt apps worldwide, with the Downdetector site showing problems with the identical platforms in various regions.

Cisco’s Thousand Eyes, a tool that reports on online failures, additionally noted a increase in problems on that morning, and numerous instances situated in Virginia, the location of the AWS US-East-1 zone where officials confirmed the outage originated.