Microsoft's business services, including Outlook and Teams, experienced a global outage that was resolved after approximately 36 hours.
According to Reuters and Yonhap News, Microsoft announced that its services were fully restored around 6 a.m. GMT on November 14.
The outage began on November 12 at approximately 5:25 p.m., leading to a surge in reports. The global outage tracking site Downdetector recorded over 7.4 million reports, peaking at 20,000 per minute, which is more than 1,500 times the usual volume.
Microsoft attributed the incident to server issues, affecting its cloud-based email and calendar service, Exchange Online. The company's AI assistant, Copilot, was also reportedly impacted. However, Microsoft stated that there was no evidence of malicious external activity, ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack.
The service disruption affected various sectors, including finance, aviation, and healthcare. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) and the London Metropolitan Police were among those impacted, while Euronext, the operator of the European stock exchange, also experienced email issues.
Danish shipping company Maersk and Indian airline companies faced challenges in customer support operations. Additionally, U.S. electric truck manufacturer Workhorse Group postponed its earnings announcement.
Global credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimated that insurance losses from the outage could reach between $300 million and $500 million (approximately 400 billion to 670 billion won).
Market analysts suggest that the recurring service outages may prompt companies to reassess their reliance on Microsoft. Similar service interruptions occurred in January and October of the previous year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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