Microsoft apologizes for global outage as Outlook and Teams recover

Microsoft apologized for a global outage that disrupted Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services, attributing the issue to a network upgrade problem and ruling out a cyberattack. Services are gradually recovering, but the incident caused widespread operational disruptions for businesses and government agencies worldwide. The outage, which began on Thursday, affected email, calendar functions, and workplace communication for at least 43,000 users across 72 countries within an hour. Microsoft is testing fixes, redistributing traffic, and increasing server capacity to stabilize its infrastructure, with recovery progress reported in Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe. The disruption impacted sectors including health services in England, government agencies in Australia and Japan, and financial markets, where traders resorted to phones and fax machines. A think tank estimated the cost of lost productivity could approach $7 billion, highlighting concerns about global dependence on Microsoft's cloud ecosystem.