Microsoft outage disrupts global services, prompts calls for scrutiny
Businesses, airlines and government offices face communication failures as experts question reliance on a single technology provider
Microsoft 365 disruption affects businesses, government offices, airlines and diplomatic missions across several countries.
Microsoft links the failure to network changes and says it found no evidence of a cyberattack.
Experts call for independent scrutiny, clearer communication and stronger backup arrangements.
A prolonged Microsoft 365 outage disrupted communications across countries and industries, prompting calls for independent scrutiny and stronger contingency planning as businesses and public institutions struggled to access essential digital services.
The disruption began on Thursday evening and continued into Friday, affecting Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services. Microsoft attributed the incident to a technical issue involving an earlier network capacity upgrade and a subsequent network change, saying it found no evidence of a cyberattack or malicious activity.
The company reported improving service availability and email delivery during recovery. It apologised and said it was reviewing the failure and measures to prevent a recurrence.
The effects extended across schools, government offices, financial institutions, transport operators and diplomatic missions, The Telegraph Online reported.
In India, IndiGo and Akasa Air warned of problems with email support, while Air India said flight operations remained unaffected. Japan’s government experienced email disruption, and financial firms in Hong Kong faced difficulties accessing communications. Euronext, Aviva and VIA Rail Canada also reported operational communication problems.
OpenAI and Anthropic reported difficulties involving Microsoft-connected tools. Consular officials described interrupted correspondence, while businesses and event organisers faced delays coordinating work, according to the newspaper.
The breadth of the disruption has sharpened questions about accountability.
Cyber law expert Pawan Duggal told IANS on Saturday that governments and law enforcement agencies should independently examine the incident, given its impact on communications and digital operations.
He called for timely explanations and questioned whether applicable incident-reporting obligations had been met. His comments did not establish any regulatory breach.
Duggal also urged organisations to diversify their infrastructure and data storage to limit exposure to future failures.
Other specialists focused on resilience. RMIT University’s Mark A. Gregory pointed to apparent network misconfiguration and the risks of cloud dependence. Australian National University academic Tom Worthington suggested disruption need not imply data loss, while eScan chief Govind Rammurthy advocated stronger alternatives to dependence on one provider, The Telegraph Online reported.
The episode leaves organisations facing a practical question: how effectively can essential work continue when the platform supporting daily communications becomes unavailable?
With IANS inputs