What we know about the global Microsoft outage
-
Published: A major global Microsoft outage has led to disruptions or complete service failures, including email and artificial intelligence products.
-
Peak Reports: According to monitoring website Downdetector, reports of issues with email provider Outlook reached nearly 140,000 globally around 6:00 PM GMT on Thursday.
-
Microsoft's Statement: Microsoft has stated that the outage was not caused by a cybersecurity incident, but efforts to resolve the issues have been largely unsuccessful so far.
Services Affected:
- Microsoft 365 Services, including Teams, Outlook, and Microsoft's artificial intelligence software Copilot, have experienced connectivity problems.
- Users report varying levels of access, with many unable to send or receive emails, access files, or view calendar details.
- Some users have continued to use Teams normally, utilizing messaging and online meeting functions.
Scale of the Outage:
- The full extent of the outage remains unconfirmed, but Downdetector recorded 140,000 reports of Outlook issues from 74 countries on Thursday evening.
- Microsoft states that over 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps, and the software is widely used by companies globally, potentially affecting other services.
Affected Entities:
- Tech giants OpenAI and Anthropic have reported problems due to the outage.
- Government agencies, such as the Singaporean government and Australia's spy agency, have also been impacted.
Cause of the Outage:
- The exact cause has not been confirmed, but Microsoft has ruled out a cyber-attack.
- The company initially stated that the issue was a portion of its infrastructure experiencing "elevated load" across multiple regions, causing servers to become "unexpectedly unavailable."
- Despite initial positive results from restart efforts, the company later reported that the fixes were "not taking as expected."
Expert Insights:
- Australian cyber-security expert Troy Hunt noted the far-reaching consequences of the outage, emphasizing its impact on critical services like email, appointments, purchases, account creation, and more.
- Paul Spain from New Zealand's Gorilla Technology advisory firm stated that the outage, lasting into the next business day, is "frustrating" for users and companies alike.