Overview

In May 2024, Google Cloud experienced a major incident where a customer’s account was inadvertently deleted due to an internal process error. This mistake resulted in a significant disruption, leading to two weeks of downtime for the affected customer. Critical services and data were lost, with Google Cloud scrambling to recover the account. The incident highlighted the risks of centralized cloud infrastructures and raised concerns about the potential consequences of operational errors on business continuity.

Technical Details

The root cause of the incident was traced back to an erroneous internal process, where the account was accidentally marked for deletion. Despite the implementation of several safeguards, the error was able to slip through. Google Cloud acknowledged the incident, and the affected customer was without service for 14 days as recovery efforts were underway.

Impact

• Service Disruption: The customer lost access to all Google Cloud services, impacting key business operations.
• Data Loss: Although Google eventually restored most of the services, the two-week downtime led to significant business losses.
• Reputation Damage: This event sparked widespread criticism about the reliability of centralized cloud services.

Source: Ars Technica

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