On Friday, Microsoft announced that a prolonged outage was impacting numerous Microsoft 365 services that rely on Exchange Online and email functionalities. Users reported issues with services such as Outlook, Teams, and the AI assistant Copilot.
The tech giant, based in Redmond, Washington, stated it was exploring various methods to diagnose the issue and restore its servers, employing “a measured approach to identify and remedy affected infrastructure.”
Microsoft indicated that there was no evidence suggesting the outage stemmed from any malicious actions and emphasized that it would prioritize resolving the situation “with urgency until a complete fix is achieved.”
According to the company, over 430 million individuals utilize Microsoft 365 applications, with the outage impacting personal users, corporations, and certain governmental functions.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic reported difficulties in connecting to Microsoft 365 tools, highlighting the far-reaching implications of such outages as more users engage with AI platforms that integrate with other software.
A series of updates from the company on X suggested that its engineers were having challenges fully resolving the issue.
‘Capacity enhancements’ over Thursday
Shortly after announcing that they had successfully restored service health and functionality, Microsoft updated its list of affected services and continued working on the problem.
The latest communication provided little optimism for users hoping for a swift resolution.
“We have been monitoring the status of the changes made to enhance service reliability and have confirmed they are not performing as anticipated,” the company noted.
Numerous Microsoft users across Canada and the United States faced difficulties accessing Outlook’s email services, Copilot’s AI software, and other vital applications during a widespread outage on Thursday. By Thursday evening, Microsoft reported that some affected servers were being restored to full functionality.
In a later update on Friday, Microsoft stated, “we’re witnessing early signs of stabilization and improvements in capacity as recovery efforts progress.”
Hospitals, airlines, and banks impacted
A healthcare network operating several hospitals in Toronto declared a code grey, signifying an infrastructure failure.
Unity Health Toronto reported that its teams were having trouble sending and receiving emails, although patient and resident care remained unaffected by the outage.
In Japan, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki noted that the outage had repercussions for the government’s IT systems, and they were “monitoring the situation closely.” Officials in Japan had taken measures, including securing alternative communication methods like telephones, according to government sources.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines announced on X that the ongoing Microsoft 365 service disruption has impacted some of its functions, including email correspondence.
In Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed that he had communicated with Microsoft’s top executive in Australia and the national cybersecurity coordinator regarding the global disruption.
Burke informed reporters in Sydney that “Microsoft does not believe they are facing a cyberattack.”
Air India confirmed that its flight operations remained unaffected by the global Microsoft outage but temporarily redirected its email services to ensure that customer inquiries continued to be addressed without delays.
Singapore’s Government Technology Agency reported that government emails were down and that they were collaborating with Microsoft to resolve the issue.
Danny Lau, a businessman in Hong Kong who operates an aluminum company, stated that his firm’s Outlook accounts were unable to receive updates from U.S. clients due to the outage. He warned that continued disruption could “affect the production timeline.”
Several banks in Hong Kong, a major financial center in Asia, also experienced disruptions in part of their operations.
The U.S.-based industrial technology firm Workhorse Group Inc. postponed a conference call for its quarterly earnings due to the outage.
Approximately 130,000 users from various countries reported difficulties accessing Outlook on Thursday, according to outage tracker Downdetector, although the number of new reports has since decreased from that peak.