Amazon’s cloud computing platform, AWS, experienced a major outage impacting various popular apps like Snapchat, Fortnite, and Duolingo. DownDetector reported over 6,000 complaints from users worldwide, with issues originating from the US-EAST-1 AWS center. AWS stated that services were gradually recovering.
Snapchat acknowledged the problems on Twitter and assured users they were investigating. The outage had severe consequences, especially for banks, affecting essential services like bill payments and banking apps. Hetzner, an AWS competitor in Germany, even taunted AWS on social media.
While some services showed improvement, others like Reddit continued to face performance issues. Lloyds Banking Group and HMRC confirmed service disruptions but were working on resolving them. AWS engineers identified and addressed the underlying DNS problem causing the outages.
The outage impacted millions globally, with significant effects on banking services and government websites. Despite some recovery, several platforms remained inaccessible. The outage highlighted the reliance of key services on a single provider like AWS, emphasizing the need for resilience and contingency planning in the face of such incidents.