Microsoft 365 Outage Disrupts Services Worldwide

A major Microsoft 365 outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services worldwide from Thursday into Friday, affecting businesses, government agencies and schools, including offices and universities in Southeast Michigan. In the UK, authorities in Warwickshire, the Nottinghamshire area and Cambridge warned that enquiries could take longer to process; Cambridge also said telephone payments were unavailable. Councils advised residents to use phone lines or other available channels for urgent matters and, in some cases, to avoid online forms, while affected agencies also used texts, websites and social media to communicate. Microsoft said server and infrastructure problems caused the disruption, with failed serviceability changes and server health checks leaving remaining infrastructure struggling to meet demand; it reported no indication of a cyberattack or link to recent workforce cuts. Recovery proceeded in phases, with incremental improvements but variable service and no timeline for full restoration; Microsoft extended email timeouts as delayed messages were processed. Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 reports of Outlook problems at the peak.