Microsoft Restores Services After Global Outage Lasting More Than 24 Hours

Microsoft has restored its services after a global outage lasting more than 24 hours disrupted access to Teams, Outlook, Copilot and other products.

The disruption left millions of users unable to use Microsoft applications and interrupted online communications for businesses, governments and individuals. Essential functions, including sending emails, managing calendars and hosting virtual meetings, were affected.

Microsoft cites server issues

Microsoft apologised for the outage and said services had been restored across Teams, Outlook and its other products.

The company attributed the incident to server issues. Microsoft also said it was not aware of malicious activity and ruled out a cyberattack as the cause. The specific server problems were not identified.

Organisations running Microsoft services on their own servers, rather than relying on cloud-based systems, were somewhat spared from the disruption.

Outage raises reliability concerns

The incident was described as one of the longest outages in Microsoft’s history and the second disruption to its services this year.

The interruption also highlighted concerns about the widespread reliance on Microsoft’s workplace software for communication and routine organisational tasks.

Microsoft’s statement that no malicious activity was involved is the company’s assessment of the incident. The outage affected users globally, but no precise figure for the number of people affected or detailed explanation of the server issues was provided.