Amazon Web Services - AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc (AMZN) faced a widespread outage lasting over 12 hours, disrupting access to major websites and apps worldwide.
The issue, originating in AWS' US-East-1 region, stemmed from DNS problems with its DynamoDB database service that supports multiple applications.
Amazon acknowledged increased error rates across EC2 instances and said it was applying fixes across affected regions. The company confirmed that Amazon.com, several subsidiaries, and customer support operations were also impacted.
The disruption affected major companies including Disney+, Lyft, Reddit, Ring, Robinhood, United Airlines, McDonald's app, T-Mobile, Venmo, and The New York Times. UK government websites, along with services like Canva, Canvas, Coinbase, and social platforms such as Snapchat and Fortnite, also reported downtime.
Amazon's internal systems and warehouse tools were hit, with employees unable to access internal apps or payment systems. Third-party sellers faced disruptions as Seller Central went offline.
AWS, which holds about a third of the global cloud market, said service operations were returning to normal after mitigation efforts. Experts noted that the outage was likely caused by a technical failure in Amazon's data center rather than a cyberattack, highlighting the world's heavy dependence on a few major cloud providers — Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
Monday AMZN closed at $216.48, up 1.61%, and currently trades after hours at $216.50, up 0.01%, on the NasdaqGS.
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