Google Cloud outage knocks UK courts and banks offline
Power event at London data centre zone halts custody hearings and card payments, critical-cloud oversight granted this summer faces its first test
Images
The Revolut outage could be linked to issues with Google’s cloud services. Photograph: Mateusz Słodkowski/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
theguardian.com
A power failure at Google's London cloud operations knocked UK courts and major banks offline on Tuesday, leaving millions of customers unable to make card payments, withdraw cash or move money. Lloyds, HSBC, Halifax and Revolut all reported disruption, and the video system used for remote hearings across England and Wales failed throughout the morning. Google blamed a "power event" at its europe-west2-b zone.
The court video system is routinely used for defendants held in custody, and several hearings were believed delayed by the failure. At Revolut, only six of the 27 services listed on its status page — among them support chat and internal transfers — were still working at 5pm, with sign-ups, card payments, ATM withdrawals and cryptocurrency services all affected. The bank insisted customers' funds and data were safe. The Financial Conduct Authority confirmed it was in touch with Google and seeking more information, and the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority is understood to have made contact as well.
The outage is the first major test of powers handed to the FCA and the Bank of England this summer to supervise Google and other suppliers of "critical" cloud services to UK financial firms. Treasury committee chair Meg Hillier has written to both regulators asking how they reacted and what the total impact on the UK financial system was, with an initial answer due by 4 November. Google said services were starting to return by 1pm and most customers were restored by 3pm, though most of Revolut's services were still marked as having problems at 5pm.
A single zone in one American company's infrastructure carried custody hearings, high-street payment systems and a digital bank serving millions, and one power event took all three down together. Google had most customers back by 3pm; the regulators' accounting is due on 4 November.