Anybody who was looking to start their Friday with a round of Netflix may have run into some trouble this morning. Some users all over the world were unable to access anything on the streaming video site for a pretty troubling reason. A reported cyber attack on popular websites like Netflix knocked out service early today.
The cyber attack and subsequent shutdown occurred shortly after 7 a.m. EST this morning. The attack wasn't on Netflix directly. Rather, it was on the Internet performance management company called Dyn. Services on Netflix and other sites managed by Dyn shut down due to what is being called a "distributed denial of service," according to Deadline. There is no news yet of how exactly the cyber attack happened or who perpetrated it, but answers may come out of Dyn headquarters for online infrastructure. The headquarters are located in New Hampshire.
Unfortunately for any subscribers who were really counting on a morning dose of Netflix, the outage was not limited to just the website or just the app. Computers, phones, and tablets were all affected by the cyber attack. Subscribers in the U.S., Europe, and Japan have all reported outages, so this was no small problem.
The disruption is seriously bad luck for Netflix, which has had some negative buzz in recent months due to its price hikes for the same streaming plan. Still, most users have stuck with Netflix and are reporting continued satisfaction despite the price rise, and Netflix made a wild amount of money in the last quarter. The cyber attack likely won't result in a mass exodus of subscribers from the site, but it's not exactly encouraging.
Sadly for any who encountered problems with Netflix this morning, they might not have even been able to Tweet or comment about their dissatisfaction. In fact, they might not have even been able to soothe their woes with a calming playlist or shop their cares away with some online deals. Twitter, Reddit, Disqus, Spotify, Soundcloud, Amazon, and Paypal all reported outages as well. It was a bad morning for some of the biggest services on the Internet, and we have to hope that the worst is over. Friday isn't the day that many of us would pick for a stop in our Netflix.
Netflix certainly has a lot going on with its library that subscribers may have been planning on a weekend binge-watch. All five seasons of spy comedy Chuck are being kicked off Netflix on November 1, and the time is right for a watch of any of the fantastic horror films currently available to stream. Be sure to check out our list of Netflix new releases to see what's coming in November, and don't forget to take a look at our fall TV schedule to see what you can watch whenever Netflix isn't an option.
