Google Cloud Outage Reveals Need for Better Multi-Cloud Disaster Recovery Planning

On June 13, 2025, multiple Google Cloud services experienced a global outage due to an internal issue with the Identity and Access Management Service. The incident began around 1:49 p.m. ET and was mostly resolved by 4:49 p.m. ET. The root cause was an invalid automated quota update distributed globally, which led to API request failures. Recovery efforts involved bypassing the faulty quota check, although some regions, such as ‘us-central1’, experienced longer downtimes due to database overload. Several Google services showed residual effects for up to an hour afterward. Cloudflare, which relies partially on Google Cloud, also reported some service disruptions, though its core systems remained stable.

The event highlighted the limitations of even major cloud providers and emphasized the need for businesses to adopt robust disaster recovery plans. Simply using multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies is not enough; automation and real-time backup systems are essential. Companies like CommVault, Druva, Flexential, and Tierpoint can help organizations set up comprehensive recovery systems. With cloud outages becoming a recurring concern, businesses must ensure they can continue operations during such disruptions.