Microsoft outage drags past 18 hours as recovery efforts continue

Microsoft's outage affecting Teams, Outlook, and Copilot has lasted over 18 hours, with recovery efforts complicated by servers becoming unresponsive when traffic returns. The company has ruled out a cyberattack, attributing the issue to configuration problems and failed automated server health checks. Microsoft has attempted to increase capacity, reroute traffic, and restore affected systems, reporting early stabilization and completed recovery actions in parts of the Asia Pacific region. However, no definitive explanation for the prolonged disruption or precise timeline for full recovery has been provided, with complaints reported from 74 nations. Cybersecurity experts note the outage's massive scale, given Microsoft's central role in business operations, and emphasize the need for companies to build resilience through additional server space and backup platforms like Slack or WhatsApp. The disruption was triggered by several servers becoming unexpectedly unavailable, straining remaining infrastructure.