- Pro
Round robin DNS protected many users from localized time failures
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Share
Share by:
- Copy link
- X
- Threads
- NIST confirmed several public time servers lost their atomic reference signal
- A generator failure interrupted the distribution of America’s primary atomic time scale
- Some NIST servers responded normally while quietly serving inaccurate timestamps
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued an alert that some of its public time servers may be unreliable.
The advisory focuses on a defined set of hosts, including multiple time-x-b.nist.gov addresses and the authenticated ntp-b.nist.gov service.
According to NIST, these systems may still respond to network requests while no longer referencing a valid atomic time source.
You may like-
China claims the US NSA conducted cyberattacks on its national time center
-
Amazon fixes huge AWS outage that broke much of the internet – here's what happened
-
AWS reveals more on just what went wrong in major outage
What failed at the Boulder facility
To avoid spreading incorrect data, the agency said it may temporarily take some of the affected hosts offline.
NIST traced the problem to its Boulder, Colorado campus, where a prolonged utility power outage disrupted operations.
The outage occurred during high winds that damaged power lines and triggered safety-related shutdowns.
Although backup power systems were in place, a downstream generator failure interrupted the atomic time scale distribution that feeds the Internet Time Service.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.NIST stated that the UTC(NIST) signal drifted by roughly four microseconds during the incident, a deviation that is small but measurable.
The disruption does not affect every NIST time endpoint. Widely used addresses such as time.nist.gov rely on round robin DNS and geographically distributed infrastructure.
This design allows clients to fall back automatically to unaffected locations when one site encounters trouble.
You may like-
China claims the US NSA conducted cyberattacks on its national time center
-
Amazon fixes huge AWS outage that broke much of the internet – here's what happened
-
AWS reveals more on just what went wrong in major outage
Users who hard-code individual hostnames face greater exposure to localized failures like this one.
Systems running on cloud hosting platforms often rely on pooled or upstream time sources, which can hide short-lived issues at any single facility.
The Boulder site hosts the NIST-F4 atomic clock, which uses cesium atoms to define the length of a second with extreme precision, which underpins services used by telecommunications networks, power grids, financial platforms, and scientific research.
Accurate timing is also fundamental to data center hosting environments, where synchronization affects logging, security protocols, and transaction ordering across distributed systems.
Many enterprise servers trust external authoritative sources, which makes upstream accuracy a shared dependency.
This incident follows another time service disruption earlier in the month at NIST’s Gaithersburg, Maryland, facility, which caused a larger time step error measured in milliseconds, not microseconds.
NIST has not given a firm timeline for full restoration at Boulder and said engineers continue recovery work.
While most consumer systems are unlikely to notice the issue, high-precision users are expected to monitor multiple independent references.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
Efosa UdinmwenFreelance JournalistEfosa has been writing about technology for over 7 years, initially driven by curiosity but now fueled by a strong passion for the field. He holds both a Master's and a PhD in sciences, which provided him with a solid foundation in analytical thinking.
Show More CommentsYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout Read more
China claims the US NSA conducted cyberattacks on its national time center
Amazon fixes huge AWS outage that broke much of the internet – here's what happened
AWS reveals more on just what went wrong in major outage
The 9 weirdest things that happened during Amazon's huge AWS outage
The AWS outage brought the internet to a crawl - here's what the experts are saying
A major Cloudflare outage took down large parts of the internet - X, ChatGPT and more were affected, but all recovered now
Latest in Pro
AI-created ransomware and NFC attacks lead the surge in new cyberattacks - here's how you can stay safe this holidays
Suspected DDoS attack takes France’s post office offline
These malicious Google Chrome extensions have stolen data from over 170 sites - find out if you're affected
Dangerous WebRAT malware now being spread by GitHub repositories
Aflac reveals personal data of 22.6 million people stolen in cyberattack - here's what we know
CES Picks 2026 Awards - entry deadline extended, so act now
Latest in News
This 3D-printed iPhone Fold mockup might be as close as you can come to holding the real thing
Another image of the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 leaks — and it could come with a mysterious new accessory
This Switch 2 Joy-Con replacement was already my most anticipated accessory — and now it’s getting two new versions plus cool pre-order bonuses
One PC building firm has an answer to harsh DRR5 price hikes: BYO RAM
Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds leak again, this time with a release date hint
Hisense unveils a 300-inch 4K laser projector, plus a new UST projector
LATEST ARTICLES- 1Guess where all the NAND flash components are going? The 8th (yes, eighth) 245TB SSD has been announced amidst race to quench AI storage thirst of hyperscalers
- 2Give yourself the gift of digital privacy this Christmas
- 3AI-created ransomware and NFC attacks lead the surge in new cyberattacks - here's how you can stay safe this holidays
- 43 Christmas VPN deals to keep your present hauls safe
- 5These malicious Google Chrome extensions have stolen data from over 170 sites - find out if you're affected