Overheating in the data center disrupted the work of the largest banks.
In Singapore, due to technical problems in the cooling system of the Equinix data center, two leading banks — DBS and Citibank-were seriously disrupted. These disruptions, which occurred on October 14, 2023, led to the inability to perform approximately 2.5 million payment and ATM operations, which significantly affected the city, which is heavily dependent on digital finance.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) determined that the cause of the incident was an increase in temperature above the permissible level in the data center used by both banks. This is the responsibility of the contractor who made a mistake during the system upgrade that caused the cooling system valves to close.
After the failures, banks immediately began to restore IT systems and business processes. However, according to Minister Alvin Tan, both banks faced additional difficulties when trying to restore systems in backup data centers — DBS had problems setting up the network, and Citibank had problems connecting.
Tan stressed that both banks did not meet the MAS standards for the sustainability of key IT systems. According to these standards, the downtime of critical systems should not exceed four hours during the year. In this situation, this limit was significantly exceeded.
As a result, MAS imposed strict sanctions on DBS, including a ban on reducing the network of branches and ATMs, making minor changes to IT systems and opening new business areas for the next six months. DBS is also required to increase the risk ratio for operating assets by 1.8 times.
Kevin Reed, chief information security officer at Acronis, expressed surprise at the lack of a backup cooling system and shortcomings in banks ' plans in case of failures. He stressed that it usually takes only a few seconds or minutes to switch to a backup system.
Reed also noted in his LinkedIn post that it's strange to see the key system that manages online banking authentication run by a third-party provider. MAS does not exercise control over such external suppliers to banks.
Data center overheating is a serious problem for a country that has developed standards for data center operations in tropical environments. Compliance with these standards and their effective application are becoming even more relevant in the context of global climate change.
Minister Tan stressed the importance of being aware of the risks associated with total dependence on digital systems. He called for a variety of payment methods to ensure the continuity of economic activity, emphasizing that despite digitalization, it is necessary to provide alternative payment methods.
In Singapore, due to technical problems in the cooling system of the Equinix data center, two leading banks — DBS and Citibank-were seriously disrupted. These disruptions, which occurred on October 14, 2023, led to the inability to perform approximately 2.5 million payment and ATM operations, which significantly affected the city, which is heavily dependent on digital finance.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) determined that the cause of the incident was an increase in temperature above the permissible level in the data center used by both banks. This is the responsibility of the contractor who made a mistake during the system upgrade that caused the cooling system valves to close.
After the failures, banks immediately began to restore IT systems and business processes. However, according to Minister Alvin Tan, both banks faced additional difficulties when trying to restore systems in backup data centers — DBS had problems setting up the network, and Citibank had problems connecting.
Tan stressed that both banks did not meet the MAS standards for the sustainability of key IT systems. According to these standards, the downtime of critical systems should not exceed four hours during the year. In this situation, this limit was significantly exceeded.
As a result, MAS imposed strict sanctions on DBS, including a ban on reducing the network of branches and ATMs, making minor changes to IT systems and opening new business areas for the next six months. DBS is also required to increase the risk ratio for operating assets by 1.8 times.
Kevin Reed, chief information security officer at Acronis, expressed surprise at the lack of a backup cooling system and shortcomings in banks ' plans in case of failures. He stressed that it usually takes only a few seconds or minutes to switch to a backup system.
Reed also noted in his LinkedIn post that it's strange to see the key system that manages online banking authentication run by a third-party provider. MAS does not exercise control over such external suppliers to banks.
Data center overheating is a serious problem for a country that has developed standards for data center operations in tropical environments. Compliance with these standards and their effective application are becoming even more relevant in the context of global climate change.
Minister Tan stressed the importance of being aware of the risks associated with total dependence on digital systems. He called for a variety of payment methods to ensure the continuity of economic activity, emphasizing that despite digitalization, it is necessary to provide alternative payment methods.
