ANOTHER OUTAGE FOR MICROSOFT
The outage, reports of which started climbing around 1725 GMT on Thursday, according to Ookla, is one of the longest in Microsoft’s history and the second disruption to its services this year.
Microsoft said the outage specifically hit features tied to Exchange Online – its cloud-based email and scheduling hub – leaving unconnected applications operational.
The incident deepens questions about the global reliance on a handful of Big Tech companies that supply both the essential software and the cloud infrastructure that underpins it.
It also highlighted the dependence on Microsoft’s workplace software, with outage reports spiking as employees began their workdays across Asia and Europe, according to Downdetector’s parent company, Ookla.
Downdetector logged more than 7.4 million reports worldwide, peaking at nearly 20,000 a minute, more than 1,500 times normal levels.
“It shows how much of the working day now runs through one provider’s email and collaboration tools,” said Luke Kehoe, lead industry analyst at Ookla.
Microsoft shares closed flat at US$523.88 on Friday. The stock has gained roughly 8 per cent so far this year.
Disruptions and financial losses from the outage could result in numerous insurance claims, but the overall hit to insurers is expected to be limited, said Mario De Cicco, vice-president of European financial institutions at Morningstar DBRS.
De Cicco estimated global insured losses from the incident at between US$300 million and US$500 million, well below the US$400 million to US$1.5 billion financial toll from the 2024 CrowdStrike outage that crashed more than 8 million Windows-based computers and caused widespread disruptions.
