Internet Outage: Easing as Systems Recover
Some delays may still occur as things return to full speed.
Amazon Web Services says most systems are now operating normally following the overnight outage. The company has confirmed that the underlying DNS problem has been fully resolved, with the majority of services recovered.
However, AWS engineers are still working to fully restore a few remaining areas. Some users may continue to see issues when launching new EC2 instances or when using services that depend on them, such as ECS. There are also some ongoing delays affecting AWS Lambda functions linked to SQS queues.
AWS says customers might notice temporary throttling or slower-than-usual performance while systems clear a backlog of requests from earlier in the incident. A further update is expected around 13:00 Irish time (05:00 PDT).
Widespread disruption has hit dozens of popular apps and websites this morning, with users across Ireland and the UK reporting problems accessing services including Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, and Duolingo.
The outage, which began around 8:00 this morning, appears to stem from technical issues at Amazon Web Services in its Northern Virginia data centre. AWS provides critical cloud infrastructure that underpins much of the modern internet, meaning problems at the facility can cascade across numerous platforms simultaneously.
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions through user reports, the scale of the outage is significant. By 08:30 this morning, AWS-related problems were generating substantial report volumes, with complaints flooding in for numerous affected services.
Amazon has confirmed the problems on its service status page, stating it is experiencing increased error rates and latencies affecting multiple AWS services in its US-EAST-1 region. The company said Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, both critical services that allow companies to rent storage space and computing power, are among those affected.
The disruption may be impacting a remarkably diverse range of services. Gaming platforms including Roblox, Fortnite, Clash Royale, Clash of Clans, and Pokémon Go have all been reported as experiencing problems. Social and productivity apps such as Snapchat, Duolingo, Canva, MyFitnessPal, and Life360 may also be affected.
Even essential services have not escaped the chaos. Ring Doorbell users have reported issues accessing their home security systems, whilst business platforms including Xero and Coinbase are experiencing difficulties. Some users have also reported problems with HMRC's online services, Vodafone, and PlayStation Network.
Amazon's own consumer services, including Amazon Music and Prime Video, may be experiencing disruptions, alongside the main Amazon shopping platform.
AWS operates massive data centres that host infrastructure for thousands of companies worldwide. When problems occur at these facilities, the knock-on effects can be substantial, as many businesses rely entirely on AWS to keep their services running.
The company's Northern Virginia region, known as US-EAST-1, is one of its largest and oldest facilities, hosting critical infrastructure for numerous major platforms. This is not the first time an outage in this region has caused widespread disruption, with similar incidents occurring in previous years affecting services globally.
At the time of writing, Amazon has not provided a timeline for when services will be fully restored, stating only that it is actively working toward resolution. Users experiencing problems are advised to check individual service status pages for updates specific to the platforms they use.
For Irish users, the morning disruption serves as a stark reminder of how interconnected modern digital services have become, and how a single point of failure thousands of miles away can affect daily activities from checking security cameras to completing language lessons or playing games.
