Microsoft global outage hits Exchange and Microsoft 365 for over 17 hours

Microsoft is experiencing a global outage affecting most of its services, including Exchange and Microsoft 365, lasting over 17 hours and disrupting millions of users worldwide. The first problems were reported around 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, November 12, 2026, with Microsoft stating by 10:00 p.m. that repairs were "not taking as expected." The company has posted hourly updates, noting recovery progress in the Asia Pacific region, with mailbox access and delayed email processing improving, though intermittent issues may persist. Microsoft has stated there is no evidence of malicious activity linked to the incident. This outage follows an October 2026 change in Exchange Web Services that affected Apple Mail users, and the company continues to work on full mitigation across all affected regions.