Microsoft blames network upgrade for outage
The company said the disruption stems from a capacity error and is not linked to a cyberattack or AI systems.
By Fatima Saleh ·
Millions of users lost access to Outlook and other Microsoft tools this week due to a global service failure. The disruption affected business communications, police crime reporting, and court operations across multiple regions.
Microsoft posted an apology on social media on Friday. The company stated it was deeply sorry for the trouble caused to customers and partners. It emphasized that it takes the trust users place in its services very seriously.
The tech giant identified the root cause as a technical issue. The problem surfaced after a recent network change and was linked to an earlier network capacity upgrade. Microsoft confirmed the issue was not related to a cyberattack or artificial intelligence agents.
The company said it has addressed the underlying issue. Services are being restored gradually rather than all at once. This slower approach allows Microsoft to validate stability at each stage before moving to the next group of users.
Microsoft noted that it is seeing broad recovery and stability across its platforms. The total number of affected individuals was not immediately disclosed. The company reported earlier this year that it holds more than 450 million paid Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions.
The outage appeared to begin on Thursday. By Friday, the company reported that it was making headway in bringing systems back online. It continues to restore service to the remaining customers and regions.
