Microsoft struggles to restore email and other services in a global outage

Microsoft is grappling with a global outage affecting a vast array of its services, disrupting email and collaboration tools used by individuals, companies, and government agencies worldwide. The issue has been ongoing for hours, with the technology giant struggling to pinpoint the root cause and restore normal operations.

Affected services include Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and the AI-powered assistant, Copilot. These platforms are integral to Microsoft 365, which boasts over 450 million paid commercial subscriptions. Microsoft stated that recovery efforts were progressing, noting early stabilization and capacity improvements, but the problem appeared to persist despite these efforts.

The British government, among others, has been impacted. The National Pharmacy Association warned of potential delays in prescription processing due to the email service disruption. Workhorse Group Inc., an industrial technology company based in the U.S., delayed a quarterly earnings conference call due to the outage. In Australia, government emails were down, and hospitals urged patients to keep their appointments as usual.

Microsoft has not indicated that the outage was caused by malicious activity, stating it is treating the incident with urgency and priority. The company has likened the situation to a faulty software update incident that occurred with CrowdStrike, which disrupted flights, hospitals, banks, and retailers. Microsoft's engineers are working "measuredly" to identify and repair the affected infrastructure.

Banks in Hong Kong and other financial institutions reported partial disruptions, while airlines in the region experienced temporary impacts on email support services. The Singapore Government Technology Agency and the Philippines Supreme Court also reported email service outages. Japanese authorities acknowledged the impact on their IT infrastructure, taking steps to secure alternative communication methods.

Other companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, reported difficulties connecting with Microsoft 365 tools, highlighting the broader implications of this outage. Microsoft has not indicated that it believes it is dealing with a cyberattack, instead treating the situation as a problem with an update gone awry.