Microsoft Outage Disrupts Outlook, Teams Worldwide

Microsoft’s global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 services, affecting businesses, government agencies and thousands of users worldwide.

The disruption lasted more than 12 hours as the technology company worked to restore its systems. It affected email communications, business operations and services relying on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.

Thousands Report Problems Accessing Outlook

The disruption initially affected thousands of users in the United States. Downdetector recorded more than 97,000 Outlook outage reports at 2:07pm Eastern Time on Thursday.

Reports later peaked at 138,058 around 1pm ET. By 6pm, the figure had fallen to approximately 34,490, suggesting some improvement as Microsoft restored services.
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Microsoft 365 and Teams also experienced disruptions. Connectors used by OpenAI and Anthropic’s artificial intelligence services were affected as well.

Server Problems Behind the Disruption

Microsoft attributed the outage to the unexpected unavailability of several servers. This shifted additional traffic onto the remaining infrastructure and increased pressure on its systems.

The company said an overall increase in traffic had not caused the problem. Instead, it paused deployments and configuration changes while working to restore services.

Microsoft redistributed traffic across its global infrastructure and restarted affected servers to improve availability. It also reported finding no evidence of malicious activity behind the incident.

Businesses and Governments Face Disruptions

The outage affected government agencies in Australia, Japan and the United States. Airlines, financial institutions and other businesses also experienced disruptions.

Some companies faced delays in publishing financial results. Meanwhile, interruptions to trading-related communications affected financial operations.

In Taiwan, financial firms encountered operational difficulties. Some transactions required alternative confirmation arrangements.

Outage Raises Concerns Over Cloud Dependence

The incident has renewed concerns about organisations’ growing reliance on a small number of major cloud and productivity service providers.

Repeated disruptions could prompt businesses to reassess their dependence on single technology platforms. They may also encourage investment in backup communication systems.

For organisations that rely on uninterrupted digital services, the outage demonstrated how a technical failure at one provider can disrupt operations across multiple industries.