Microsoft announced progress in restoring access to key software products. The company is working to resolve a massive outage that has paralyzed government agencies, trade organizations and businesses around the world. According to Microsoft, “email queues have decreased significantly and are approaching normal levels.” However, more than twenty products and services may still experience interruptions.
Since the problems occurred, Microsoft has published information almost every hour about the progress of recovery efforts and the redirection of user traffic from the servers affected by the failure. The cause of the failure has not yet been determined. Microsoft promised to provide more detailed information once the problems are fully resolved, adding that there were no signs of malicious activity.
According to the Downdetector service, users in more than 70 countries encountered difficulties accessing Microsoft products. The outages affected cybersecurity software, file sharing services and administration tools. The company offers all these products, along with office applications Word and Excel, as part of the M365 package. The suite has more than 450 million commercial users, Microsoft said last month.
Problems with Microsoft services were reported by traders in Singapore, Indian brokerages and officials in Tokyo. Staff at the Reserve Bank of Australia have also faced difficulties, and in New Zealand immigration authorities have suspended the processing of all visa applications.
The outage highlighted the dependence of government agencies, trade organizations and businesses on Microsoft services and served as another reminder of the risks associated with relying on a limited number of suppliers for mission-critical technologies.
While most technical problems are resolved promptly, bugs in updates or server problems at one major technology provider can cause a chain reaction that affects the entire global economy. So, failure in the work of Amazon Web Services last year led to the inaccessibility of many sites. A incorrect software update from CrowdStrike in 2024 caused the cancellation of flights and the failure of computer systems around the world, leading to billions in losses.
Microsoft shares fell less than 1% at the opening of trading in New York on Friday.
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL+ENTER.
