Google Cloud outage affects UK banks and websites, UAE impact minimal

The disruption in Google’s London cloud region affected banking services but had limited impact on UAE users.

A Google Cloud outage on October 20 disrupted banking and online services across the UK, with significant impacts on financial institutions like Revolut. The outage began at 10.08am UAE time and was centered on Google’s London cloud region, europe-west2, causing network failures and errors in several cloud services.

Revolut confirmed that customers faced issues with card payments, money transfers, ATM withdrawals, and account access. Other banks such as Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and HSBC also reported difficulties with online banking. Additionally, services like Rightmove and DPD experienced problems, while ING Germany noted issues with its banking app.

Google’s engineers are investigating the root cause of the network failures but have not yet identified a specific reason or provided a timeline for resolution. The company advised affected businesses to consider relocating their applications to an alternative cloud region if feasible.

In the UAE, there are no confirmed reports linking the outage to disruptions in local banks or government platforms. However, users might encounter difficulties accessing international websites and apps dependent on Google’s affected infrastructure in London. Google has not indicated a broader impact on essential services like Gmail or Google Search.

Source: https://gulfnews.com/technology/companies/google-cloud-outage-hits-uk-banks-and-websites-is-the-uae-affected-1.500717126