Massive Microsoft outage disrupts businesses, schools and governments around the world

A massive Microsoft outage has left people worldwide without access to crucial services such as Outlook email, Teams meeting tools, and other essential components of modern office life. The company has apologized for the disruption, which could potentially cost billions in lost productivity. Microsoft attributed the issue to a technical problem resulting from an earlier network capacity upgrade following a recent change in network configuration.

The incident began midday on Thursday on the US East Coast and rapidly expanded across the globe, affecting an estimated 430 million users at some point.

The outage caused significant disruptions, with many users experiencing delayed email delivery and difficulties in conducting online classes or attending virtual meetings. In the US, some companies reportedly had employees leave early, while in Australia, businesses struggled with invoice printing and schools were unable to hold online classes. Microsoft stated that the service restoration was happening gradually, validating stability at each stage, which contributed to the prolonged duration of the outage.

The estimated economic loss due to the disruption has been calculated at $7 billion, with around 26 million users affected on Thursday and 51 million on Friday experiencing operational disruptions that led to financial loss. The impact extended beyond businesses, affecting small enterprises that had to seek alternative communication methods and local governments advising constituents to use phone calls instead of emails.

Australia's national broadcaster, ABC, reported that the outage disrupted live feeds from courts and schools resorted to texting parents to report any student absences.

Despite the scale of the problem, Microsoft assured customers and partners that broad recovery and stability were being achieved across its services. The company expressed deep regret for the disruption and continued to work on restoring service to remaining customers and regions.