Technology giant Microsoft has apologised following one of the worst outages in its history, which left millions of people around the world unable to access emails, attend online meetings or use essential workplace software.
The disruption began early on Friday morning Australian time, affecting Microsoft Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and its artificial intelligence assistant Copilot.
The problems continued for more than 24 hours, disrupting everything from hospital operations and police services to financial transactions, airline communications and everyday business activities.
Microsoft has since confirmed its services have been restored, but the company is facing serious questions about how a single technical failure could cause such widespread disruption.
“We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners,” Microsoft said in a statement.
“We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously.”
We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners. We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously. We are seeing broad recovery and stability across our services. This was a technical issue not related to cyber or AI / agents. The incident was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change. We have addressed the underlying issue and continue to restore service to remaining customers and regions. Given the scale of demand, we restored services gradually, validating stability at each stage. While this took longer, it helped ensure a stable restoration. We will provide a full post-incident report once our review is complete.
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) November 13, 2026
The company confirmed the outage was caused by a technical issue associated with an earlier network capacity upgrade, rather than a cyberattack or a problem involving artificial intelligence.
According to outage monitoring service Downdetector, more than 7.4 million reports were logged worldwide during the incident, with problems reported across more than 70 countries and territories. Reuters+2
Billions of dollars in losses
While the full financial impact is still being calculated, experts believe the disruption could prove extraordinarily costly.
Ashwin Pal, from accounting and advisory firm RSM Australia, warned the outage could cost Australian businesses billions of dollars in direct and indirect losses.
The financial damage extends well beyond lost sales, with businesses facing reduced productivity, interrupted transactions, delayed services and the additional expense of restoring normal operations.
Pal warned smaller businesses could be particularly vulnerable.
“A protracted event like this can easily be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for smaller entities,” he said.
International estimates paint an equally concerning picture.
Cyber risk modelling company Kovrr has estimated the outage could generate approximately $US16 billion in economic losses worldwide, based on lost productivity.
Its preliminary assessment also suggested insured losses could reach around $US700 million, with a possible range of $US300 million to $US1.4 billion.
However, the company cautioned that these were early estimates rather than confirmed losses, and that insurance coverage would depend on individual policies.
Some businesses may discover their insurance does not cover outages caused by technical failures rather than cyberattacks. The New Daily+1
Hospitals, police and airlines affected
The consequences were felt far beyond the corporate world.
In Britain, the National Health Service was forced to introduce alternative procedures, including paper records, while staff struggled to access vital patient information.
London’s Metropolitan Police reported difficulties with online crime reporting, although emergency response capabilities remained operational.
Airlines across India warned passengers that customer service emails were being delayed, while financial institutions in Asia struggled to complete transactions.
In one extraordinary example, a Taiwanese financial company reportedly reverted to using fax machines to confirm trades.
Another financial institution was forced to cancel a bond repurchase transaction.
Major international companies were also caught up in the disruption, with some delaying financial results announcements and others activating backup communication systems.
Australian government agencies were among those affected, including the Australian Federal Police and the country’s intelligence services.
Cyber Security Minister Tony Burke confirmed that Microsoft did not suspect a cyberattack and said the disruption was primarily affecting email systems. live+1
A worrying dependence on technology
The incident has reignited concerns about the world’s growing reliance on a handful of major technology companies.
Microsoft 365 is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, with its software deeply embedded in the daily operations of businesses, schools, hospitals and governments.
The Australian Computer Society has called for a national review of the country’s dependence on critical technology providers.
Its chief executive, Prins Ralston, warned that many smaller businesses simply do not have alternative systems available when essential services fail.
“We need to know the systems that keep this country running won’t simply fall over without notice,” he said.
The latest incident follows several other Microsoft disruptions, including outages earlier this year and problems affecting its Azure cloud platform last month.
Although Microsoft has confirmed that the underlying issue has been addressed and services restored, the broader economic consequences may take considerably longer to determine.
For businesses already struggling with rising costs, the outage has delivered another reminder of just how vulnerable modern workplaces have become when the technology they depend on suddenly stops working.
