Global Microsoft outage disrupts services in 74 countries, no cyberattack

A global Microsoft outage disrupted governments, businesses, schools, transport, and healthcare for nearly 24 hours, affecting 74 countries and territories. The tech giant has ruled out a cyberattack as the cause. The outage, which began Thursday and continued into Friday, impacted Microsoft 365 services including Outlook, Teams, and the Copilot AI assistant. In Italy, government offices and universities were affected, while Australia's federal police and intelligence agency were hit. The UK saw consequences for health, justice, and security services. Microsoft confirmed there is no indication of malicious activity, with the initial cause still under investigation. While services are recovering, Outlook email continues to work intermittently. The outage sparked widespread social media irony, with many users joking about an unexpected break from work.