In a shocking and unprecedented tech error, Google Cloud accidentally deleted the cloud account of UniSuper, one of Australia’s largest pension funds managing around A$139 billion (US$125 billion) in assets. The incident left more than 500,000 members unable to access their accounts for nearly a week before services were finally restored.
According to The Guardian, the error occurred due to a “one-of-a-kind occurrence” within Google Cloud’s system that led to the accidental deletion of UniSuper’s private cloud subscription. Both companies jointly confirmed that the issue was not the result of a cyberattack or external breach but a configuration mistake on Google’s end.
How It Happened
A detailed post from Google Cloud revealed that during the setup of UniSuper’s Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE) service, an internal configuration parameter was left blank. This triggered the system to assign a temporary status to the account, which was later automatically deleted when the term expired.
Because the deletion was generated internally rather than by a customer request, Google’s standard safeguard protocols—such as confirmation prompts or system notifications—did not activate. As a result, UniSuper’s active workloads, backups, and replicated environments in Google Cloud were all wiped simultaneously.
The Week-Long Outage
For nearly a week, UniSuper’s members were unable to log in to their accounts, access balance details, or make transactions. Panic spread among users, many of whom feared their retirement funds had vanished.
Thankfully, UniSuper had independent backups hosted with another cloud provider, which became the saving grace in the recovery effort. Using these external backups, technical teams from both UniSuper and Google rebuilt the infrastructure, restored databases, and gradually brought services back online.
By May 2, access to accounts was restored, and members were informed that no personal data or investment information was lost during the outage.
Official Statements
In a joint statement, UniSuper CEO Peter Chun and Google Cloud Vice President Alister Dias described the issue as a “one-of-its-kind occurrence” that had never been seen before in Google’s cloud ecosystem.
“The incident was caused by an inadvertent misconfiguration and was not the result of a security breach. Both UniSuper and Google Cloud have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again,” they said.
Google further confirmed that the internal tool responsible for triggering the deletion had since been removed, and stricter automation controls were implemented to prevent any human-related configuration risks in the future.
Industry Reaction
The financial services sector reacted strongly to the event, calling it a wake-up call for organizations relying heavily on cloud providers. Experts pointed out that while cloud systems promise reliability and scalability, even major providers are not immune to critical errors.
According to Ars Technica, the UniSuper incident demonstrated that redundancy within a single provider’s ecosystem is not enough—if the subscription itself is deleted, all related resources can vanish too. This highlights the need for multi-cloud or hybrid backup strategies that include external copies of critical data.
The Australian financial community, including regulators, urged superannuation funds to review their third-party risk frameworks and disaster-recovery capabilities to ensure that similar disruptions can be avoided in the future.
Lessons Learned
- Multi-Cloud Backups Are Essential – Relying on one provider can lead to total loss if the primary account fails.
- Automation Needs Oversight – Even automated systems must include manual review checks.
- Transparency Builds Trust – UniSuper’s openness during the crisis helped calm members and avoid panic.
- Cloud Isn’t Fail-Proof – Even the world’s top tech companies can make costly mistakes.
While Google and UniSuper have both reassured users that safeguards are now stronger than ever, the incident stands as one of the most dramatic examples of how fragile cloud infrastructure can be when configuration errors go unnoticed.
As the world increasingly depends on cloud computing for critical operations, this $125 billion lesson will likely reshape how companies think about cloud redundancy, data protection, and accountability in the digital era.
Sources:
- The Guardian – “UniSuper outage blamed on one-of-a-kind Google Cloud error.”
- Google Cloud Blog – “Details of the UniSuper incident and steps taken.”
- Ars Technica – “Google Cloud explains how it accidentally deleted a customer account.”
