Europe's financial regulators query Google over cloud outage that hit banks欧洲金融监管机构就影响银行业运营的云服务中断事件向谷歌提出质询。
LONDON/PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Financial regulators in Europe are questioning Google after a cloud computing outage on Tuesday left millions of bank customers without access to key financial services for hours.
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: 3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Google Cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo
LONDON/PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Financial regulators in Europe are questioning Google after a cloud computing outage on Tuesday left millions of bank customers without access to key financial services for hours.
The European Banking Authority said that it has been in contact with Google Cloud to obtain further information on the incident, understand its implications and assess its potential impact on financial entities in the EU, a spokesperson for the watchdog told Reuters.
Alphabet's Google said the disruption, which lasted several hours, was caused by a "power event" in a London-based network that serves customers across Europe. Revolut, Lloyds and HSBC were among the banks affected.
Lloyds and HSBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Google spokesperson said: "We have resolved a disruption to Google Cloud services at a third-party facility in our europe-west2 cloud region due to a power event. Services have been restored. We will update our public status dashboard with an analysis."
At Revolut, which has around 13 million UK customers, a wide range of services including logging in, card payments and cash withdrawals were affected on Tuesday, according to the bank's website.
Revolut said in a statement that it was reviewing the incident to reduce the impact of any future third-party disruptions, and that customer funds and data had remained safe throughout.
The outage is the first major test of new rules across Europe designed to strengthen the resilience of technology providers, including cloud firms, on which the financial sector depends.
The European Union last year designated 19 technology firms as critical third-party providers to the financial sector, bringing them under joint direct oversight of three financial regulators — including the EBA — for the first time. Britain took similar steps for four cloud providers, citing the risk that an outage at a major supplier could affect multiple financial firms at the same time. Google Cloud falls under both regulatory frameworks.
In Britain, parliament's Treasury Committee has written to the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), seeking details of the regulators' response to the outage on Tuesday, the scale of the disruption and any financial harm caused.
The FCA said it was engaging with Google over the incident. Under Britain's critical third party regime, designated providers like Google Cloud must report serious outages to the FCA and the BoE.
A spokesperson for the Bank of England declined to comment.
Under UK rules, banks ultimately are responsible for the services they provide to customers, including when they rely on third-party providers.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris and Phoebe Seers in London; additional reporting by Lawrence White in London; Editing by Xevi Fontdegloria)
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资料图片：这张摄于2022年2月8日的插图显示，3D打印的云朵和人物模型位于谷歌云服务标志前。路透社/Dado Ruvic/插图/资料图片/资料图片
伦敦/巴黎，10 月 21 日（路透社）——周二，谷歌云计算服务中断，导致数百万银行客户数小时无法访问关键金融服务，欧洲金融监管机构正在就此质询谷歌。
欧洲银行业管理局的一位发言人告诉路透社，该机构已与谷歌云取得联系，以获取有关该事件的更多信息，了解其影响，并评估其对欧盟金融机构的潜在影响。
Alphabet旗下的谷歌表示，此次持续数小时的网络中断是由位于伦敦、服务于欧洲各地客户的网络发生的“电力事件”造成的。Revolut、劳埃德银行和汇丰银行等银行均受到影响。
劳埃德银行和汇丰银行尚未对此事作出回应。
谷歌发言人表示：“由于电力故障导致我们位于欧洲西部2云区域的第三方设施的谷歌云服务中断，目前已解决。服务已恢复。我们将更新公开状态仪表板，并附上分析报告。”
据该银行网站消息，拥有约 1300 万英国客户的 Revolut 银行周二的一系列服务受到影响，包括登录、银行卡支付和现金取款。
Revolut 在一份声明中表示，他们正在审查此次事件，以减少未来任何第三方干扰的影响，并表示客户的资金和数据始终安全无虞。
此次故障是欧洲各地旨在加强技术提供商（包括金融业所依赖的云公司）韧性的新规首次面临的重大考验。
欧盟去年将19家科技公司指定为金融行业的关键第三方服务提供商，首次将它们置于包括欧洲银行管理局（EBA）在内的三个金融监管机构的联合直接监管之下。英国也对四家云服务提供商采取了类似措施，理由是主要供应商的故障可能同时影响多家金融机构。谷歌云同时受上述两种监管框架的约束。
在英国，议会财政委员会已致函英格兰银行和金融行为监管局 (FCA)，要求提供监管机构对周二停电事件的回应详情、中断的规模以及造成的任何经济损失。
英国金融行为监管局（FCA）表示，正在就此事与谷歌进行沟通。根据英国严格的第三方监管制度，像谷歌云这样的指定服务提供商必须向FCA和英格兰银行（BoE）报告严重的系统故障。
英国央行发言人拒绝置评。
根据英国法律，银行最终对其向客户提供的服务负责，包括依赖第三方供应商的情况。
（伊丽莎白·霍克罗夫特在巴黎、菲比·西尔斯在伦敦报道；劳伦斯·怀特在伦敦补充报道；泽维·丰特德格洛里亚编辑）
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