Microsoft confirmed on Saturday that all Microsoft 365 services are now fully operational after a multi‑hour outage that began Thursday midday in the United States and quickly spread to users in over 70 countries and territories.
What happened
The company said the disruption was caused by an issue that arose during a network capacity upgrade following a recent network change. The problem led to a number of servers becoming “unexpectedly unavailable” during automated checks, affecting Exchange Online mailboxes, Outlook, Teams, and the AI assistant Copilot.
Downdetector, an online outage tracker, recorded reports from users in 74 countries within an hour of the first complaints. Affected parties included government agencies in Japan, Singapore, Australia, Greece and Norway, as well as courts, hospitals, airlines and banks worldwide.
Impact on public services
In the United Kingdom, a trial in Manchester was halted when Judge Maurice Greene sent jurors home due to email delays. British police reported an inability to receive online crime reports, urging the public to call in urgent matters. The National Health Service warned of potential delays in prescription processing, and the National Pharmacy Association asked customers to expect longer wait times at pharmacies.
In the United States, the sheriff’s office in Arapahoe County, Colorado, noted that online bond payments were temporarily unavailable. Several courts and law‑enforcement agencies reported similar email disruptions.
Business and technology fallout
Businesses felt the ripple effects as well. Hong Kong entrepreneur Danny Lau said his aluminum company could not receive Outlook updates from U.S. customers, and banks in the Asian financial hub reported transaction delays. OpenAI and Anthropic also experienced connectivity problems when trying to access Microsoft 365 tools, highlighting the growing interdependence of AI platforms on core productivity services.
Microsoft’s response
Microsoft posted updates on X, stating, “We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service to the remaining impacted customers and regions.” The company emphasized that the outage was not related to a cyberattack or artificial‑intelligence agents.
In a Friday apology, the Redmond‑based firm said the incident stemmed from “an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced” after a recent network change. Engineers worked through the night to bring services back online, restoring functionality gradually across affected regions.
Broader implications
Experts warned that the outage underscores the risks of heavy reliance on a single provider for critical digital infrastructure. Jeremy Singer, a professor at the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, described the event as a “virtual snow day” for many office workers and suggested it may prompt discussions about building more resilient IT ecosystems.
Despite the disruption, Microsoft reported that more than 430 million people use its 365 apps, and the company continues to serve over 450 million paid commercial subscriptions worldwide.
Original reporting: WPBF West Palm Beach — read the source article.
