On Friday, Microsoft users worldwide, including those from banks, airlines, and media broadcasters, reported widespread outages. This occurred hours after Microsoft announced it was gradually addressing an issue affecting access to its Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Nature and Scale of the Outage
The cause and exact nature of the outage remain unclear. Despite Microsoft's statements on social media suggesting improvements, users continued to report escalating outages globally. DownDetector, a website tracking user-reported internet outages, recorded disruptions in services at major companies including Visa, ADT security, Amazon, and airlines such as American Airlines and Delta.
Global Impact
News outlets in Australia reported significant disruptions, affecting airlines, telecommunications providers, banks, and media broadcasters. New Zealand banks also reported being offline.
In Australia, the outages impacted several major institutions:
Banks: NAB, Commonwealth, and Bendigo.
Airlines: Virgin Australia and Qantas.
Internet and Phone Providers: Telstra.
Media broadcasters, including ABC and Sky News, experienced shutdowns of Windows-based computers, rendering them unable to broadcast on TV and radio channels.
Microsoft's Response
Microsoft 365 posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it was "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion" and observed a "positive trend in service availability." However, the company did not provide further details about the outage's cause or scale and did not respond to requests for comment.
Unverified Reports
An X user shared a screenshot from Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity company, indicating awareness of "reports of crashes on Windows hosts" related to its Falcon Sensor platform. This alert, posted on a password-protected Crowdstrike site, could not be verified as Crowdstrike did not respond to a request for comment.
The ongoing issue underscores the critical reliance on Microsoft's services across various sectors worldwide and highlights the widespread disruption such outages can cause.
More: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-microsoft-users-worldwide-widespread-outages.html
