Microsoft apologises for global outage and rules out cyberattack

Microsoft has apologised for a global service outage that left millions of users unable to access its widely used applications for more than 24 hours, disrupting workplace communications and essential online operations across the world.

The technology giant said on Saturday that services had been fully restored across Microsoft Teams, Outlook and other products, bringing an end to a prolonged disruption that affected businesses, government organisations and individual users. Microsoft attributed the outage to server-related issues and said it had found no evidence of malicious activity, ruling out a cyberattack as the cause of the disruption. Its Copilot artificial intelligence assistant was also affected.

The disruption left users struggling with routine but critical tasks, from sending emails and managing calendars to organising virtual meetings. For organisations relying heavily on Microsoft's workplace tools, the interruption hampered day-to-day operations and communications. Organisations running Microsoft services on their own servers, rather than relying on its cloud infrastructure, were relatively less affected. One of the longest disruptions in the software giant's history, the incident was also its second major service interruption this year.

Beyond the immediate inconvenience, the outage has renewed concerns about the growing dependence of businesses, governments and individuals on a handful of technology providers. Microsoft's extensive role in everyday digital operations means that even a technical failure can have far-reaching consequences, disrupting work and communication on a global scale.