Millions affected worldwide as Microsoft suffers major technical outage

Citing outage-tracking website Downdetector, Reuters reported on Friday (November 13) morning that service disruptions were reported across numerous countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, and Bangladesh.

According to Downdetector data, approximately 130,000 users reported difficulties accessing Microsoft Outlook on Thursday afternoon US local time.  

In a statement posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Microsoft said it was "aggressively pursuing all pathways" to resolve the issue and was working to restart affected servers to restore normal operations.

Microsoft noted that the list of potentially impacted services is extensive. It includes Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft Exchange Online—tools heavily relied upon for email communication, cloud file sharing, virtual meetings, and daily office operations. Cloud-based cybersecurity service Microsoft Defender was also listed among the affected platforms.

According to Reuters, the paralysis of Microsoft's digital ecosystem has had widespread real-world consequences. Beyond email disruptions, access to various databases, online classes, telehealth platforms, and product ordering systems has been severely hampered. The report added that several US government service centres were forced to suspend operations due to the outage.

Microsoft experienced similar service disruptions earlier this year, including an incident in January when Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services went offline for several hours. 

-SA