Microsoft 365 outage hits 74 countries as recovery lags

A major Microsoft 365 outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, and other services for over eight hours on Friday, affecting users in 74 countries, with recovery efforts progressing slower than expected. The outage, which began Thursday, also impacted OpenAI and Anthropic's AI services through Microsoft connectors. Microsoft identified an overwhelmed process for establishing secure connections as the cause, ruling out a cybersecurity breach. Services like email delivery and Copilot were affected, while Teams messaging largely continued working. Businesses faced disruptions, with Workhorse Group rescheduling its earnings announcement. Public services in Australia, including Service NSW, were also affected. Microsoft is testing configuration changes and gradually restoring traffic to stabilize its infrastructure.