Major Web Failure Hits Dozens Websites and Mobile Apps

An extensive internet failure has disrupted dozens websites and applications globally, with users reporting issues getting online due to difficulties at the cloud computing system.

The affected services include the social media app Snapchat, Roblox, Signal, and the language learning app Duolingo, along with a host of Amazon-operated operations such as its key e-commerce site and the Ring device manufacturer.

In the UK, the financial institution Lloyds was affected along with its branches Halifax and Bank of Scotland, while there were also reports of difficulties using the HMRC website on the start of the week. Furthermore across the UK, multiple Ring device owners turned to online platforms to complain their doorbells were failing.

Solely in the United Kingdom, accounts of issues on specific platforms reached the thousands for each app.

Officials confirmed that the issue began in the Atlantic coast of the United States at AWS, a section that supplies essential online backbone for a host of companies, who lease space on AWS infrastructure. AWS is the world’s largest cloud computing service.

Soon after midnight (PDT) in the US (8am BST), the company announced “elevated failure rates and latencies” for AWS services in a region on the Atlantic seaboard of the America. The ripple effect appeared to affect apps around the world, with the Downdetector site indicating outages with the corresponding services in multiple continents.

Cisco’s Thousand Eyes, a tool that tracks web disruptions, further indicated a rise in problems on the start of the week, including several cases situated in Virginia, the location of the eastern US data center where officials confirmed the problems originated.