Microsoft struggles to restore services after global system outage

Engineers at Microsoft are continuing efforts to resolve a widespread technical failure that disrupted Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams, Word, and Copilot, across more than 70 countries. The disruption, which began on Thursday evening, triggered nearly 130,000 incident reports on tracking site Downdetector at its peak.

Microsoft clarified that the blackout stemmed from an internal process error rather than a cyberattack. According to the company, a system responsible for establishing secure connections became overwhelmed, causing servers to freeze under heavy traffic loads. Although configuration adjustments and network rollbacks are underway, restoration efforts hit delays as newly restarted servers became unresponsive once user traffic resumed. The tech giant stated it is prioritizing recovery for life, safety, and government infrastructure.

Sources: The Guardian, The Herald, STV News, Cyprus Mail, BBC News