Microsoft ‘deeply sorry’ as outage triggers global chaos

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WASHINGTON: Microsoft has apologized for a global outage that disrupted public services and businesses around the world, as it reported a “broad recovery” ...

WASHINGTON: Microsoft has apologized for a global outage that disrupted public services and businesses around the world, as it reported a “broad recovery” for Outlook email and other services. The company ruled out any malicious “cyber or AI” activity as the cause of the outage, which affected several Microsoft products and disrupted health care services, delayed corporate earnings reports and left schools struggling to communicate. “We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners,” Microsoft said on X, adding full services were still being restored after the outage started on Thursday.

The disruption knocked out Microsoft products in 74 countries and territories, affecting users across the Americas and parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, according to the outage tracker Downdetector. A top UK trade union said the disruptions had a “serious impact” on the country’s health care service. National Health Service staff receiving emergency calls were “unable to refer patient details in the normal way,” creating a massive backlog, said Rachel Harrison, public services head at the GMB union. As the outage dragged on for hours, airlines in India warned that customer queries may not be getting through.

Japan’s economy, trade and industry minister Ryosei Akazawa warned of a “significant impact” of the outage as the Microsoft products were used by a “vast number of people.” In London’s financial district, several people interviewed by AFP said the outage exposed their dependence on Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant. “I think one of the biggest things is Copilot not working,” said Yashmit Sharma, 26, an auditor. “I think this was the main bummer. And Outlook as well, of course.” Sheera, 40, a risk manager at a mid-sized bank, said businesses needed to be better prepared for unexpected technology failures.

“I think we need to be a little bit more careful,” said Sheera, declining to give her last name.

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