Microsoft outage disrupts global businesses and government services
A widespread disruption to Microsoft 365 services has impacted airlines, financial sectors, and government agencies across several countries.
A prolonged Microsoft outage on Friday disrupted businesses, airlines, and government operations across multiple countries, according to reports from The Economic Times and India Today. The disruption affected widely used services including Outlook, Teams, and the AI assistant Copilot, as the company struggled to restore normal operations.
The outage impacted various sectors in India, including the aviation industry. Air India reported that it redirected email services to ensure customer queries were received, though flight operations remained unaffected. IndiGo stated that its email support was affected, making it difficult to receive customer messages, though other support channels remained operational.
In the financial sector, employees in India faced difficulties accessing research reports and conducting client calls. In Australia, UBS Group execution-sales head Rita Elkazzi said the situation required extra care when checking trade recaps after Outlook stopped working.
Government agencies in several nations reported issues. Singapore's Government Technology Agency and the Philippines' Supreme Court noted that email disruptions could delay responses to enquiries. Japan's Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa said government agencies had alternative communication options like telephone and text messages.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, said its engineers were investigating the cause. The company stated there was no indication of malicious activity and described the incident as a measured response to repair infrastructure. Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke noted that Microsoft believed the issue was similar to a previous software update error seen with CrowdStrike.