Australia hit by Microsoft outage as schools and courts revert to phone and paper

A major Microsoft outage on Friday disrupted email and online meetings for Australian schools, courts, and government services, forcing many to revert to phone calls and paper-based processes. Microsoft said the issue was not a cyber-attack and its fix was not working as expected. The problem with Microsoft 365, including Outlook and Teams, began before 5am AEST, peaking at 9.22am with over 5,500 reports. Service NSW delayed customer visits, while some hospitals used paper scripts due to authentication failures. Courts in South Australia and Victoria reported email issues, though hearings continued. Microsoft suggested a server configuration change caused overloads. The National Cyber Security Coordinator warned of potential scam attempts during the disruption. Experts compared the issue to a 2023 Optus network failure, noting a cascading server problem was likely the root cause.