Microsoft 365 outage passes 12 hours as fixes keep failing

Microsoft 365 outage hits Outlook, Teams and Copilot worldwide; Microsoft's first fix didn't work as expected.

A global Microsoft outage began Thursday, shortly before 1 p.m. ET, and continued into Friday. Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services such as SharePoint were affected, according to BBC News, CNBC and The Guardian, citing Microsoft's status updates.

Microsoft says it has not detected malicious activity and that this was not a cyber-security incident. It attributes the outage to a number of servers being 'unexpectedly unavailable', which strained the remaining infrastructure. It admitted its attempted fix was 'not taking as expected'. CNBC reports Microsoft then validated an alternative service health check method that brought some affected servers back online.

The scale is large. Microsoft's website says more than 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps, and Downdetector logged 140,000 reports of Outlook issues from 74 countries on Thursday evening; BBC News notes the real figure is likely much higher. Per BBC News, GP surgeries, pharmacies, police forces and schools in the UK were affected, and OpenAI and Anthropic reported linked problems.

What to watch: Microsoft reports encouraging recovery in Europe, gradual restoration in Asia Pacific and improvement in North America, but warns of intermittent issues. CNBC reports Microsoft extended the timeout window for delayed emails to 48 hours.

“not taking as expected”Microsoft, on its attempted fix (BBC News)

The facts we checked

According to BBC News, CNBC and The Guardian, citing Microsoft's status updates

1. A global Microsoft outage affected Outlook, Teams and Copilot, along with other Microsoft 365 services such as SharePoint.Fact · BBC News, CNBC, The Guardian
2. The disruption began on Thursday (shortly before 1 p.m. ET, or around 6pm GMT) and continued into Friday.Fact · CNBC, The Guardian
3. Microsoft says it has not detected malicious activity and that the outage was not a cyber-security incident.Fact · CNBC, BBC News, The Guardian
4. Microsoft attributed the outage to a number of servers being 'unexpectedly unavailable', which strained the remaining infrastructure. Some servers were failing automated health checks.Fact · CNBC, BBC News
5. Microsoft admitted its attempted fix was 'not taking as expected'.Quote · BBC News, The Guardian, The New York Times
6. Microsoft said it had validated 'an alternative service health check method' that brought some affected servers back online, and was applying it more broadly.Reported · CNBC
7. Microsoft later reported 'encouraging recovery progress in Europe', with service being gradually restored in Asia Pacific and improving in North America. It warned of intermittent issues.Quote · CNBC, BBC News
8. The Guardian reports Microsoft saw 'positive results for server stability' after applying a software patch, but still reported 'Service degradation on Microsoft 365 (Business or Enterprise) and Microsoft consumer products'.Quote · The Guardian
9. Microsoft extended the timeout window for delayed emails to 48 hours to help protect messages.Reported · CNBC
10. More than 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps, according to Microsoft's website.Figure · BBC News
11. Downdetector had 140,000 people from 74 countries report Outlook issues on Thursday evening. BBC notes the real figure is likely much higher because the site relies on self-reporting.Figure · BBC News
12. In the UK, GP surgeries, pharmacies, police forces and schools were affected. NHS England said patients should still attend appointments unless told otherwise.Reported · BBC News, CNBC
13. OpenAI and Anthropic both reported problems linked to the outage.Reported · BBC News, The Guardian
14. Australian minister Tony Burke said Microsoft 'believe they are dealing in some ways similar to what we saw with respect to CrowdStrike where there is an update that has gone awry', as reported by Reuters.Quote · CNBC (citing Reuters)

Sources

• BBC NewsGPs, police and pharmacies among UK services affected by Microsoft outage
• CNBCWidespread Microsoft outage takes down Outlook and other 365 services
• BBC NewsWhat we know about the global Microsoft outage
• The GuardianMicrosoft outage live: UK police, NHS services and schools affected amid ongoing disruption affecting millions globally
• The New York TimesOutlook, Teams and More Microsoft Programs Disrupted by Outage
• BBC NewsWhat happened overnight with the Microsoft global outage?