Severe disruptions in the operation of Microsoft services were caused by a service outage that occurred on Thursday, November 12, 2026, with the problem spreading across the globe and affecting millions of users. The company announced that its latest efforts to restore services are not progressing according to plan, while it continues to investigate the causes of the disruption and seek ways to mitigate the impacts. "We monitored the status of the changes applied to improve service functionality and confirmed that their implementation is not progressing as expected," Microsoft stated in an update. Simultaneously, it disclosed that it is examining internet traffic flows and affected infrastructures in order to identify opportunities to optimize traffic routing. The company pledged to keep users informed of any latest developments, emphasizing that, so far, there are no indications that the incident is due to malicious activity or a cyberattack.
Recovery efforts fail, server issues re-emerge
Earlier, Microsoft had announced that it was making intensive efforts to limit the impact of the outage, having even proceeded with server restarts aimed at bringing them back online. However, as it clarified, servers that come back online may once again stop responding as soon as they receive internet traffic. "We are analyzing diagnostic data in order to determine what is causing this behavior," the company characteristically stated. Affected products include Microsoft 365 services, among them Outlook, Copilot, and Teams. The outage began at approximately 16:00 GMT.
Disruptions in 74 countries, Outlook reports skyrocket
The scale of the problem was also reflected in data from the Downdetector platform, which tracks user reports of digital service outages. According to the platform, within roughly one hour, reports of the incident had been recorded across 74 countries and territories. Specifically for Outlook, user reports exceeded normal levels by more than 2,000 times. "Reports for Outlook alone peaked at levels over 2,000 times higher than normal," Downdetector stated in a post on the platform X.
OpenAI and Anthropic services also affected
The disruption to Microsoft's infrastructure also impacted services of other major technology companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI announced that it is investigating an issue concerning its Microsoft connectors, pointing out that creating new connections may not be possible and that certain tools are not functioning as expected. The incident highlights the degree of dependence of many digital services on the infrastructure of major tech conglomerates, as a problem at a single provider can trigger cascading effects across multiple platforms and enterprises.
Microsoft currently rules out the possibility of a cyberattack
At the same time, Australia's Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, stated that he had been briefed on the incident, conveying Microsoft's assessment that it is not a cyberattack. "Microsoft's assessment at this stage is that it is not facing a cyberattack incident," Tony Burke stated. As he added, the company believes the issue may bear similarities to the incident that occurred with CrowdStrike, when a faulty software update caused widespread system malfunctions globally.
Severe impacts in Germany, New Zealand, and Canada
The consequences of the outage were not limited to digital services and businesses, as disruptions were also recorded in critical operations of public organizations and infrastructure. In Germany, the railway operator Deutsche Bahn announced that the outage caused significant delays in sending emails. This fact hindered the timely notification of passengers regarding diverted or modified train schedules. In New Zealand, government services and businesses were affected by the problem, forcing several organizations to temporarily revert to manual operating procedures. In fact, Immigration New Zealand announced that it is suspending the processing of all visa applications until the situation is resolved. In Canada, Unity Health Toronto declared a "Code Grey" status, a special operational alert activated when there is a loss or failure of critical infrastructure. The organization announced that its email system had been taken offline, clarifying however that there was no impact on patient care or the care of residents. "Our hospitals remain safe and open, continuing to provide healthcare services," Unity Health Toronto stated.
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