Substantial Online Disruption Impacts Many Online Platforms and Applications

An extensive web failure has impacted many sites and apps globally, as users noting problems getting online due to difficulties at Amazon’s web hosting system.

The impacted platforms include the social media app Snapchat, the gaming platform Roblox, Signal, and the language learning app Duolingo, along with multiple Amazon-owned platforms including its key e-commerce site and the Ring security device manufacturer.

Throughout Britain, Lloyds bank was affected in addition to its branches the bank Halifax and the Scottish bank, with also reports of problems reaching the HMRC site on that morning. Also in the UK, multiple Ring customers used networks to report their security devices were not working.

Solely in the United Kingdom, accounts of issues on specific platforms ran into the many thousands for each platform.

Officials confirmed that the problem originated in the eastern region of the America at AWS, a section that offers crucial web backbone for many businesses, who rent out space on Amazon servers. Amazon Web Services is the world’s largest cloud computing system.

Shortly after the start of the day (PDT) in the US (8am BST), officials reported “higher error rates and latencies” for AWS services in a zone on the Atlantic seaboard of the US. The widespread consequence appeared to hit platforms around the world, and the outage tracking website showing issues with the same sites in various regions.

The monitoring service Thousand Eyes, a tool that reports on internet outages, also reported a rise in outages on Monday morning, including several cases located in the Virginia area, the site of the eastern US data center where officials confirmed the outage began.