A widespread software outage affecting Microsoft services began on Thursday afternoon, leaving millions of users worldwide without access to core business and communication tools including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Copilot as disruptions stretched into a second day on Friday.
The global disruption impacted corporate offices, government agencies, healthcare systems, and educational institutions across dozens of countries. Affected services included Britain's National Health Service, intelligence and police forces in Australia, taxpayer email capabilities in Singapore, and court systems in the Philippines and Europe. Microsoft stated that it found no evidence of malicious activity or a cybersecurity breach associated with the incident.
By Friday morning, roughly 18 hours after the disorder started, Microsoft reported progress in restoring functionality. The company noted that services were being restored in the Asia Pacific region and improving across Europe and North America, though users were warned to expect continued intermittent issues across roughly 20 affected products.
