A Google Cloud outage early Tuesday disrupted UK banking services, including Revolut. It shows how one tech provider can stall many everyday services at once.
An outage at Google Cloud knocked out banking services in the UK early on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg Technology. Revolut Ltd., the digital bank, is the one company named so far. Other UK banking services were also affected.
Google Cloud rents out computing power to other companies. Instead of running their own servers, many firms use Google's. That saves money and effort. It also means a single fault at Google can hit many businesses at the same moment, even ones that have nothing to do with each other.
The clearest impact is on customers of UK banking services that rely on Google Cloud. Revolut is a bank that runs mainly through a phone app, so its customers depend on those systems working. The report does not say which other banks were hit or what customers could not do.
For most people, the lesson is simple. Keep a second way to pay, such as a card from a different bank or some cash. For business owners, the question is sharper. If your systems run on one cloud provider, an outage there stops you too. Ask your IT team or software vendor what the backup plan is.
If your systems run on one cloud provider, an outage there stops you too, so ask what your backup plan is.
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