Tech

Microsoft Outage Resolved After Cyber-Attack, Company Apologizes

Microsoft has resolved a significant global outage that disrupted multiple services, including the popular email platform Outlook and the video game Minecraft. The technology giant attributed the incident to a cyber-attack, combined with a failure in its defensive measures, as stated in an official update.

The outage, which lasted nearly ten hours, saw thousands of users experiencing issues with various Microsoft services. The company issued a public apology, acknowledging the widespread inconvenience caused by the disruption. The incident comes on the heels of another significant outage less than two weeks ago, where around 8.5 million computers running Microsoft systems were affected due to a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. This previous event severely impacted sectors such as healthcare and travel.

In a detailed statement on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform’s website, the company explained that the outage was initiated by a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. “While the initial trigger event was a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack… initial investigations suggest that an error in the implementation of our defences amplified the impact of the attack rather than mitigating it,” the statement read. DDoS attacks typically overwhelm online services with excessive traffic, rendering them inaccessible.

Computer security expert Professor Alan Woodward expressed concern over the incident, remarking, “It seems slightly surreal that we’re experiencing another serious outage of online services from Microsoft. You’d expect Microsoft’s network infrastructure to be bomb-proof.”

The affected services included Microsoft Azure, the cloud computing platform supporting many of Microsoft’s products, and Microsoft 365, which encompasses systems like Microsoft Office and Outlook. Additional cloud systems, such as Intune and Entra, were also impacted. Microsoft has since implemented a fix and is monitoring the situation to ensure full recovery. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” the company posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The outage had a ripple effect, disrupting other services that rely on Microsoft’s platforms. Cambridge Water reported issues with their website, affecting services like MyAccount and PayNow. The HM Courts and Tribunals Service, responsible for the administration of various courts in England and Wales, acknowledged problems with multiple online services. NatWest bank customers also faced difficulties accessing the bank’s webpages. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the link to Microsoft’s issues and apologized for the inconvenience, noting that the issue had been resolved.

Additionally, Dutch football team FC Twente informed fans that their ticketing website and club app were unavailable due to the outage.

The timing of the outage coincided with Microsoft’s scheduled financial update, where the company revealed slower-than-expected growth in its “intelligent cloud” unit, despite a 21% year-on-year revenue increase for the quarter. Overall, Microsoft’s revenue rose 15% to $64.7 billion, with a profit increase of 11% to $22 billion. However, the company’s shares dipped by 2.7% in after-hours trading following the financial report.