Major Internet Failure Hits Numerous Sites and Apps

A widespread online failure has impacted numerous websites and apps worldwide, as users noting problems getting online following issues at Amazon’s cloud computing platform.

The affected services include the social media app Snapchat, the gaming platform Roblox, Signal, and the language learning app Duolingo, along with multiple Amazon-owned operations such as its key e-commerce website and the Ring device manufacturer.

In the UK, the financial institution Lloyds was affected as well as its branches Halifax and the Scottish bank, while there were also reports of difficulties using the HMRC online portal on the start of the week. Also in the UK, several Ring customers took to online platforms to complain their security devices were not working.

In the UK alone, notifications of disruptions on individual applications ran into the tens of thousands for each platform.

Officials confirmed that the problem began in the Atlantic coast of the United States at Amazon Web Services, a section that provides crucial online backbone for a host of businesses, who rent out capacity on the company's servers. AWS is the biggest global cloud computing service.

Just after the start of the day (PDT) in the US (morning UK time), officials reported “increased failure rates and delays” for AWS services in a area on the eastern US of the US. The ripple effect seemed to hit services around the world, and the outage tracking website indicating issues with the same sites in various regions.

The monitoring service Thousand Eyes, a service that tracks internet outages, further indicated a increase in issues on Monday morning, and numerous instances situated in the state of Virginia, the site of the eastern US data center where the company stated the problems started.