Global Microsoft Outage Disrupts Government and Business Operations

A widespread outage affecting various Microsoft services persisted into Friday, causing disruptions to government services and private companies globally. According to Downdetector, reports of issues with Microsoft services, including Outlook, emerged shortly after 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, with disruptions continuing as of 2 a.m. ET on Friday.

Microsoft stated that several services were impacted to different extents. These services include Microsoft Copilot 365, Microsoft 365 Education, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft Teams.

In Colorado, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office announced on social media that bond payments for those held at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility must be processed in person due to the outage. They stated, “The Microsoft outage is affecting online bond payments for individuals being held at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility. Jail officials are not receiving the email notifications needed to process online bond payments. Until Outlook email is restored, anyone needing to post bond for immediate release must do so in person at the jail. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”

Additionally, CemAir, a South African airline, reported on Facebook that they are “currently experiencing some system disruptions due to the global Microsoft outage” and apologized for any inconvenience caused.

The New Zealand Herald reported that the Microsoft outage affected significant elements across the country, such as government agencies, schools, businesses, health services, property settlements, and court appearances. New Zealand’s immigration service stated that visa applications would be affected, saying, “Because of the global Microsoft outage, Immigration New Zealand has paused the processing of all visa applications. We will update you once our systems are restored.”

This situation is ongoing and updates will follow as more information becomes available.