UniSuper-Google Cloud outage sparks concerns over digital financial services reliability
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In an age where we've come to rely heavily on digital services for managing our finances, the recent incident involving UniSuper and Google Cloud serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of our online assets.
This alarming event left members without access to their superannuation accounts for over a week, raising serious concerns about the security and reliability of digital financial services.
Over 620,000 UniSuper fund members were left in the lurch when Google Cloud's 'unprecedented misconfiguration' resulted in the deletion of the financial service provider's private cloud account.
The outage, which began without warning, left many members feeling anxious and uncertain about their investments.
UniSuper CEO Peter Chun reached out to the fund's members, assuring them that the outage was not due to a cyber-attack and that no personal data had been compromised.
However, the reassurance did little to alleviate the frustration of not being able to access one's financial information, especially at a time when superannuation funds are a critical part of retirement planning for Australians over 60.
In a rare move, both Chun and Google Cloud's Global CEO, Thomas Kurian, issued a joint statement to offer their apologies for the disruption, saying it had been ‘extremely frustrating and disappointing’.
They explained that the outage was caused by a misconfiguration during the provisioning of UniSuper's Private Cloud services, which led to the complete deletion of UniSuper's cloud account.
‘Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian has confirmed that the disruption arose from an unprecedented sequence of events whereby an inadvertent misconfiguration during provisioning of UniSuper’s Private Cloud services ultimately resulted in the deletion of UniSuper’s Private Cloud subscription,’ they said.
‘This is an isolated, ‘one-of-a-kind occurrence’ that has never before occurred with any of Google Cloud’s clients globally. This should not have happened. Google Cloud has identified the events that led to this disruption and taken measures to ensure this does not happen again.’
UniSuper typically has redundancy in two locations to ensure that if one service fails or is lost, it can be easily restored.
However, the deletion of the fund's cloud subscription resulted in deletion across both locations.
UniSuper managed to restore services eventually because the fund had backups with another provider.
The pair stated, ‘These backups have minimised data loss and significantly improved UniSuper and Google Cloud's ability to complete the restoration.’
‘Restoring UniSuper’s Private Cloud instance has called for an incredible amount of focus, effort, and partnership between our teams to enable an extensive recovery of all the core systems.’
‘The dedication and collaboration between UniSuper and Google Cloud has led to an extensive recovery of our Private Cloud which includes hundreds of virtual machines, databases and applications,’ they added.
It was reported that UniSuper manages around $125 billion in funds.
The recent issue with UniSuper's access to Google Cloud shed light on the complexities of managing large funds in the digital age.
As Australia's superannuation landscape continues to evolve, questions arise about the effectiveness of bigger super funds.
Despite the industry's push for consolidation, some argue that larger funds may not necessarily be better.
Have you ever encountered a situation where your online accounts were compromised or inaccessible? How did you handle it, and what steps have you taken to ensure the safety of your digital information? We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences with digital asset management.
This alarming event left members without access to their superannuation accounts for over a week, raising serious concerns about the security and reliability of digital financial services.
Over 620,000 UniSuper fund members were left in the lurch when Google Cloud's 'unprecedented misconfiguration' resulted in the deletion of the financial service provider's private cloud account.
The outage, which began without warning, left many members feeling anxious and uncertain about their investments.
UniSuper CEO Peter Chun reached out to the fund's members, assuring them that the outage was not due to a cyber-attack and that no personal data had been compromised.
However, the reassurance did little to alleviate the frustration of not being able to access one's financial information, especially at a time when superannuation funds are a critical part of retirement planning for Australians over 60.
A Google Cloud misconfiguration affected over half a million UniSuper fund members, resulting in the deletion of their private cloud accounts. Credits: Shutterstock and UniSuper
In a rare move, both Chun and Google Cloud's Global CEO, Thomas Kurian, issued a joint statement to offer their apologies for the disruption, saying it had been ‘extremely frustrating and disappointing’.
They explained that the outage was caused by a misconfiguration during the provisioning of UniSuper's Private Cloud services, which led to the complete deletion of UniSuper's cloud account.
‘Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian has confirmed that the disruption arose from an unprecedented sequence of events whereby an inadvertent misconfiguration during provisioning of UniSuper’s Private Cloud services ultimately resulted in the deletion of UniSuper’s Private Cloud subscription,’ they said.
‘This is an isolated, ‘one-of-a-kind occurrence’ that has never before occurred with any of Google Cloud’s clients globally. This should not have happened. Google Cloud has identified the events that led to this disruption and taken measures to ensure this does not happen again.’
UniSuper typically has redundancy in two locations to ensure that if one service fails or is lost, it can be easily restored.
However, the deletion of the fund's cloud subscription resulted in deletion across both locations.
UniSuper managed to restore services eventually because the fund had backups with another provider.
The pair stated, ‘These backups have minimised data loss and significantly improved UniSuper and Google Cloud's ability to complete the restoration.’
‘Restoring UniSuper’s Private Cloud instance has called for an incredible amount of focus, effort, and partnership between our teams to enable an extensive recovery of all the core systems.’
‘The dedication and collaboration between UniSuper and Google Cloud has led to an extensive recovery of our Private Cloud which includes hundreds of virtual machines, databases and applications,’ they added.
It was reported that UniSuper manages around $125 billion in funds.
The recent issue with UniSuper's access to Google Cloud shed light on the complexities of managing large funds in the digital age.
As Australia's superannuation landscape continues to evolve, questions arise about the effectiveness of bigger super funds.
Despite the industry's push for consolidation, some argue that larger funds may not necessarily be better.
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