Microsoft restores services after global outage disrupts UK

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 14 Nov, 16:26 · Archive

Microsoft has fully restored services after a global outage that disrupted police forces, the NHS, businesses and schools from Thursday evening.

Microsoft has fully restored services after a global outage that began around 6pm GMT on Thursday 12 November, disrupting email, messaging and other Microsoft 365 services worldwide. At its height, Downdetector recorded over 130,000 reports of Outlook difficulties in the United States and more than 3,000 complaints in the UK. Police forces advised the public to telephone rather than report crimes online, and individuals reportedly encountered difficulties booking GP appointments. Numerous organisations including courts and schools were hampered by the disruption, as Teams and Outlook are essential business applications.

Microsoft initially stated that a proposed fix was "not taking as expected" and announced it was "identifying alternate workstreams" to address the issue. The company ruled out a cyberattack as the cause. Microsoft executive vice president Charles Lamanna said the company was "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident". The UK Government and others worldwide activated contingency plans during the outage.

Microsoft confirmed on Friday morning 14 November that services were fully restored for all remaining affected customers. In a statement, the company said: "We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service to the remaining impacted customers and regions." Microsoft attributed the problem to "a technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents", caused by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change. The company said it restored services gradually to validate stability at each stage. Microsoft stated it would provide a full post-incident report once its review was complete.

How it is being reported

• Microsoft issues important update for all users following global outageMicrosoft has issued an update, telling its customers that it has now fully restored its services after the global outage that started on Thursday this week.Lancashire Telegraph · 14 Nov, 16:19
• Microsoft issues update on Outlook service amid major global outage ongoing since Thursday evening“The global Microsoft outage only serves to highlight once again the lack of resilience in the UK’s digital infrastructure.”Blackpool Gazette · 13 Nov, 15:39
• Microsoft global outage hits UK police, GPs and government as 'fix' issuedMicrosoft has issued an update on a global outage affecting its Microsoft 365 suite, Teams, Outlook and CopilotLancsLive · 13 Nov, 09:10

In this story: Microsoft · UK Government · Baroness Lloyd of Effra · Charles Lamanna · United Kingdom · United States

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