Sign in Subscribe
Banks (Finance)

Lloyds Bank Experiences Widespread Outage due to Amazon Web Services Disruption

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Lloyds Bank customers were left without access to their online banking accounts for several hours on October 20, as the banking service experienced a major outage. The disruption, which was also affecting multiple other services, including HMRC and Zoom, was caused by a problem with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud computing provider. According to Downdetector, the issue was first reported at around 9am, with users in the UK, including London, Manchester, and Cardiff, experiencing problems with online and mobile banking.

Key Takeaways:

  • The outage affected Lloyds Bank customers across the UK, with 50% of reported problems related to online banking, 29% to mobile login, and 21% to mobile banking.
  • The disruption was caused by a problem with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which also affected multiple other services, including HMRC and Zoom.
  • Lloyds Bank customers were advised by the bank's customer support team to try clearing the app's cache and browsing history, fully closing and reopening the app, and trying to log in using both mobile data and Wi-Fi.
  • The outage was reported on Downdetector, an online website that allows users to report issues with popular services, including Lloyds Bank.
  • The disruption was also affecting other services, including Slack, Ring, Vodafone, Signal, Halifax, BT, EE, and Sky.
  • AWS reported a "disrupted" Amazon DynamoDB database service and 20 other services impacted, including Amazon CloudFront, AWS Config, and AWS Security Token Service.

Statistics:

  • 50% of reported problems related to online banking.
  • 29% of reported problems related to mobile login.
  • 21% of reported problems related to mobile banking.
  • The outage was affecting customers in the UK, in cities including London, Manchester, and Cardiff.
  • 20 other AWS services were impacted, including Amazon CloudFront, AWS Config, and AWS Security Token Service.
  • AWS's Amazon DynamoDB database service was disrupted.

Sources:

  • "Lloyds Banking app failing to log me in" - Downdetector user report.
  • "Online and Mobile banking down, card payments were being declined" - Downdetector user report.
  • "Banking App failing to login "App launch failed""" - Downdetector user report.
  • "We can confirm increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS Services in the US-EAST-1 Region" - AWS Service Health Update.
  • "Downdetector: Where people go when services don't work" - Downdetector website.
  • "90 per cent of passwords can be hacked in under 6 hours" - Newsquest article.
  • "Tech expert reveals 5 habits that are killing your iPhone battery life" - Newsquest article.
  • "Mobile expert reveals 5 ways you can save money on your phone bill" - Newsquest article.

Read more