What caused Microsoft outage third time in around one year?

Microsoft on Friday reported broader improvements in North America, sustained recovery across much of Europe and encouraging signs in the Asia-Pacific region. However, several Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams users could still face intermittent access problems or delayed email, it said.

In its latest update on Friday, Microsoft said it was seeing signs of stabilisation after implementing fixes more broadly to attain a persistent recovery of services. Microsoft had also faced an outage with its 365 services in January. In October 2025, Microsoft reported an outage of its Azure cloud platform that impacted its suite of productivity software, and a range of industries worldwide.

Microsoft 365 combines cloud-based email, collaboration and office applications. Exchange Online supports mail, calendars and contacts, meaning a disruption can affect features in other products that depend on those services.


Microsoft Outage Reason

Microsoft, which says on its website that more than 430 million people use its 365 services, blamed server problems and said it was not aware of any malicious activity.

The disruption comes weeks after attacks on the industrial systems that keep supermarket food cold and shows how a single point of failure, whether a technical fault, cyberattack or even an extreme weather event, can disrupt everyday business.

Microsoft said it would publish a full post-incident report explaining the cause and measures to strengthen its systems after mitigation was complete, as per reports. Its statement did not establish a final cause or declare the disruption over. “At this time, we have no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident,” it said.

Executive Vice President Charles Lamanna had said late Thursday that there was no indication the outage resulted from malicious or cyber activity. “We regret that today's outages caused disruptions for our customers, and we are working to address the issue,” Lamanna wrote on X.

The US House of Representatives warned users on Thursday that Microsoft was experiencing a global disruption to Outlook services. Its alert said House technology staff were working with the company but had no timetable for restoration.

New York City Emergency Management also warned that emails to city agencies and online services relying on Microsoft could be delayed or disrupted. It urged people with urgent requests to use another way to contact the relevant agency.