What you need to know
- If you're experiencing issues with Microsoft services right now, chances are you're not alone.
- Microsoft reported a major Azure outage this morning, affecting services like Microsoft 365, Outlook, and more.
- The system seems to be in a recovery state right now, although users may still be experiencing issues for the time being.
Recent updates
Update (July 31, 2024): Microsoft's services now seem to have fully recovered, with the service page listing no errors. Microsoft blamed yesterday's outage on a DDoS attack, which flooded the network with junk requests. But then, Microsoft's own defensive measures amplified the attack, rather than mitigated it. Original article continues below.
Microsoft has been hit with another major outage, hot on the heels of last week's Crowdstrike drama.
Now, services tied to Azure, including Microsoft 365, Xbox network, Outlook, OneDrive, and others have been experiencing issues, with Down Detector experiencing a spike in connection issue reports.
Azure is Microsoft's global cloud network, with dozens of data centers dotted around the globe. The network outage appears to be impacting every region across the globe, although Microsoft's Azure for Government section remains unaffected, owing to the additional contingencies put in place for nation states.
The warning on the Azure status page reads as follows:
"Network Infrastructure - Issues accessing a subset of Microsoft services
Starting approximately at 11:45 UTC on 30 July 2024, a subset of customers may have experienced issues connecting to Microsoft services globally.
Current Status: We have implemented networking configuration changes and have performed failovers to alternate networking paths to provide relief. Monitoring telemetry shows improvement in service availability from approximately 14:10 UTC onwards, and we are continuing to monitor to ensure full recovery."
Questions of IT infrastructure are a hot topic right now
During the Paris Olympics, French security services reported various attacks on local IT infrastructure, including fibre optic cables and the like. There has also been some high-profile nation-backed cyberattacks on network infrastructure devices, including notorious router hacks, as well as embarrassing security breaches across Microsoft's own email systems.
Last week's big Crowdstrike snafu knocked out millions of kiosk computers across the globe, bringing down payment systems, flight tracking systems, and other critical infrastructure platforms based on Windows. Microsoft was forced by regulators in previous years to allow third-party vendors full access to the Windows kernel to sell security solutions. After giving Crowdstrike a huge degree of control over Windows security endpoints, Microsoft is now calling on regulators to be handed back full control over the keys to Windows' security apparatus.
RELATED: Your Microsoft 365 subscription now comes with a free VPN
In a world where hostile nation states are exploiting security weaknesses across Western infrastructure platforms, cybersecurity has become a more critical issue than ever before. These types of outages on Azure (however brief) don't exactly help Microsoft's credentials, though, when it's making arguments to be given back the keys over Windows' security direction.
