Apparent outage at GoDaddy.com takes down hosted websites, other services

CLEVELAND - No need to call your Internet provider if you got an error message -- an apparent outage of some sort with GoDaddy.com caused many websites and services to go down Monday.

The company tweeted at 1:35 p.m.: "Status Alert: Hey, all. We're aware of the trouble people are having with our site. We're working on it."

Many users who host their sites through the service responded right back to that message.

Twitter user @aboutamom said:
" @GoDaddy Both of our sites hosted with you are down :("

And user @SHOESTRINGgroup said:
" @GoDaddy it is not just your site, it is EVERYTHING anyone has hosted with you.... from email to websites..."

Then at 3:05 p.m., GoDaddy tweeted this message: "So many messages, can't get to you all... Sorry to hear all your frustration. We're working feverishly to resolve as soon as possible."

A NewsChannel5 viewer in Wadsworth, Ohio, first alerted us to the issue, saying she was told by GoDaddy that the company hosts about 30 percent of the world's websites -- and all were down. She said the company told her it is "frantically working to get sites back up" but offered no ETA.

The technology website TechCrunch reported that a member of the hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility for causing the problem.

NewsChannel5 contacted GoDaddy.com, but has not yet received a reply.

But at 4:04 p.m., GoDaddy posted this message on Twitter: "Update: Still working on it, but we're making progress. Some service has already been restored. Stick with us."

Late Monday evening, the company released the following statement:

"At around 10:25 am PT, GoDaddy.com  and associated customer services experienced intermittent outages.   Services began to be restored for the bulk of affected customers at 2:43 pm PT. At no time was any sensitive customer information, such as credit card data, passwords or names and addresses, compromised."

GoDaddy claims it is "the largest hosting provider of secure websites in the world." A report from the Associated Press suggests this outage may affect thousands, if not millions of websites -- most being tied to small businesses.

Are you having issues with your Go Daddy-hosted account, chime in via the comment box below.

Keep checking newsnet5.com for more information.