Significant Internet Failure Impacts Many Online Platforms and Apps

A large-scale web disruption has disrupted many sites and applications globally, and users reporting issues accessing the internet following issues at Amazon’s online infrastructure system.

The affected platforms include Snapchat, the gaming platform Roblox, the messaging service Signal, and the language learning app Duolingo, along with multiple Amazon-owned platforms like its key e-commerce site and the Ring security home security firm.

Across the United Kingdom, the financial institution Lloyds was affected as well as its subsidiaries Halifax and the Scottish bank, while there were also reports of difficulties accessing the HM Revenue and Customs website on Monday morning. Also in the UK, several Ring device owners used networks to complain their home gadgets were failing.

Just within Britain, reports of issues on individual applications reached the thousands for each app.

The company stated that the problem began in the eastern region of the US at Amazon Web Services, a division that provides crucial internet infrastructure for many firms, who rent out space on AWS infrastructure. Amazon Web Services is the biggest global online services platform.

Just after midnight (PDT) in the United States (8am BST), officials reported “higher error rates and slowdowns” for AWS services in a zone on the eastern US of the US. The widespread consequence was seen to disrupt services around the world, with the outage tracking website showing issues with the same sites in different parts of the world.

The outage tracker Thousand Eyes, a service that reports on internet outages, also reported a surge in issues on Monday morning, and numerous instances located in Virginia, the site of the eastern US data center where the company stated the outage began.