Key facts
- Microsoft said overloaded infrastructure and unresponsive servers contributed to the disruptions.
- Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said there was no indication the outage resulted from malicious or cyber activity.
- The outage affected Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services, Microsoft said in updates on X.
- Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
A Microsoft outage on November 12 left thousands of users struggling to access their email, disrupting workplaces and government operations around the world, according to Business Insider. The outage affected Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services. In updates on X, Microsoft said overloaded infrastructure and unresponsive servers were contributing to the disruptions, which continued into November 13.
"We regret that today's outages caused disruptions for our customers, and we are working to address the issue," Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said in a November 12 post on X. "We will continue to share more information as soon as we have it, and for now I can confirm that there is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity." Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Some employees around the world reacted to the outage on social media, with some joking about getting a day off and others calling on Microsoft to resolve the issue. Business Insider also reported that several CEOs and entrepreneurs have said they rarely use email, preferring phone calls, text messages or handwritten letters. Those accounts were not covered in this record.