Microsoft outage halts email and pharmacy orders across 74 countries
A technical error during a network update disrupted Microsoft 365 services for over 450 million commercial users, causing delays in courts, banks, and hospitals.
By Diego Mendoza ·
A global Microsoft outage brought essential workplace tools to a standstill this week, cutting off email, video conferencing, and AI services for millions of users. The disruption forced businesses to pause operations, halted court proceedings in Britain, and delayed medication prescriptions at pharmacies. Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, experienced widespread failures that spread from the United States to Asia and Europe within hours.
The problems began midday Thursday in the U.S. When the outage entered its second day on Friday, the company reported encouraging recovery progress but warned that some users might still face intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery. Microsoft stated that a technical issue arose during an upgrade following a recent network change. The company added that this error caused servers to become unexpectedly unavailable during automated checks. Engineers worked to restore services gradually, a process that took longer than initially expected.
Online tracker Downdetector received outage reports from 74 countries and territories within one hour of the initial failure. Microsoft reported having more than 450 million paid commercial subscriptions to its 365 services as of January. The company said there is no indication the disruption was caused by malicious activity or cyberattacks. On Thursday, Microsoft said it had successfully restored Teams in North America, though some users continued to report connectivity problems.
The outage rippled through critical public services. In Manchester, Judge Maurice Greene sent jurors home because delays in the digital system illustrated the dangers of relying on technology. British police could not receive online crime reports and urged the public to call for urgent matters. The National Pharmacy Association warned customers of longer waits and prescription delays, while the National Health Service faced issues emailing prescriptions to pharmacies.
Government agencies in Singapore, Japan, Greece, and Norway also reported operational disruptions. In Colorado, the Arapahoe County sheriff's office noted that online bond payments were affected. Danny Lau, who runs an aluminum company in Hong Kong, said his business could not receive updates from U.S. customers. He warned that extended downtime could impact his production timeline. Banks in the Asian financial hub also experienced disruptions, and AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic reported connection problems with Microsoft tools.
Lawmakers in Europe used the incident to argue for reduced reliance on American tech providers. Chi Onwurah, who chairs the Science and Technology Committee in the British Parliament, said the outage highlighted the lack of resilience in the U.K.'s digital infrastructure. She noted that the country is hugely dependent on a small number of U.S.-based providers. Florian Druckenthaner, a spokesperson for Germany's digitization ministry, said the government is working on building redundancies and alternatives to prevent similar future disruptions.
By Friday morning in the U.S., Microsoft said email queues were significantly reduced and approaching normal levels. The company continued to monitor the situation as it worked to clear remaining backlogs and stabilize access for all users.
