Microsoft Outage News: Tech giant, Microsoft, has apologised to customers and partners for the disruption caused by a recent service outage, saying that its services are now seeing broad recovery and improved stability. In a statement, the company clarified that the incident was caused by a "technical issue" and was not related to a cyberattack, artificial intelligence (AI) or AI agents.
According to the company, the disruption originated from an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade, which surfaced following a recent network change. The underlying problem has since been addressed, and efforts are underway to restore services for the remaining affected customers and regions.
Services restored gradually: Microsoft
The company said it restored services gradually due to demand, with stability checks at every stage of the recovery process. Although the phased restoration took additional time, it helped ensure that services returned to normal in a stable manner.
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Expressing regret over the inconvenience, the company acknowledged the trust customers and partners place in its services and said it takes its responsibility seriously. The company also confirmed that it will release a detailed post-incident report once its internal review is complete.
One of the longest outage in Microsoft's history
The outage is one of the longest in Microsoft's history and the second disruption to its services this year. Microsoft said the outage specifically hit features tied to Exchange Online - its cloud-based email and scheduling hub - leaving unconnected applications operational. The incident deepens questions about the global reliance on a handful of Big Tech companies that supply both the essential software and the cloud infrastructure that underpins it.
Impact on India
In India, a widespread disruption to Microsoft's cloud services hit Indian airlines, financial services firms, and businesses on Friday, while affecting government agencies, healthcare providers and technology companies across dozens of countries. Domestic airlines IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air reported disruptions to email-based customer support, affecting their ability to receive or respond to some passenger queries. Air India temporarily rerouted email services to ensure customer communications continued reaching the airline, while flight operations were not reported to have been affected. Financial services firms also faced difficulties accessing research reports and conducting client interactions.
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World market returned to Bluetooth and fax era
Meanwhile, old-school technology including telephones, faxes and Bluetooth limited the damage for some people on Friday as a worldwide outage of Microsoft's Outlook left millions without email. The prolonged disruption, which also hit Microsoft Teams and Copilot, affected some of the world's biggest institutions, from bankers and traders to shipping firms. In Taiwan, the outage disrupted fund management at securities firms, life insurers and investment trust companies. Trades such as purchases and sales of short-term bills, which are normally confirmed by email, had to be confirmed by fax instead, Reuters reported.
(With inputs from agencies)
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