Hours-long Microsoft outage disrupts businesses, governments globally

A more than 12-hour outage of Microsoft Outlook and Teams disrupted communications for businesses and governments worldwide on Friday. The incident, caused by server issues, also affected Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant and prompted some organisations to revert to fax machines and halt bond repurchases in Europe. Microsoft stated it was not aware of any malicious activity and that a broader roll-out of software fixes was stabilising the system.

The outage impacted hundreds of millions of users, including government agencies from Australia to Japan and the United States, trading firms, and companies publishing earnings. Those who host Microsoft services on their own servers were somewhat spared. Microsoft said efforts to improve serviceability were not progressing as expected, and it identified alternate workstreams to increase capacity in the face of sustained traffic management imbalances.

The outage is one of the longest in Microsoft's history and the second disruption to its services this year, raising concerns about global reliance on a few Big Tech companies. Microsoft shares fell 1.7% before the market opened, and analysts questioned whether such incidents will push customers toward rivals due to high switching costs.

Some governments, like the UK's, were working with Microsoft to find a solution, while businesses and financial institutions faced widespread disruptions.