Global Microsoft outage disrupts services across 74 countries

On November 12, 2026, a massive technical failure in Microsoft's network architecture triggered a global outage affecting millions of users across 74 countries. The disruption, which lasted over 24 hours, primarily impacted Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and the AI tool Copilot. Businesses, government agencies, hospitals, and financial institutions worldwide experienced significant operational hurdles, with some organizations forced to revert to legacy communication methods like fax and telephone to conduct essential business.

In Cyprus, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Nicodemos Damianou, confirmed that while email and Teams communications were disrupted, core state digital systems and the CY Login platform remained functional. Microsoft officially clarified that the outage resulted from a network configuration error during a capacity upgrade, explicitly ruling out cyberattacks or artificial intelligence malfunctions. By November 14, the company announced the full restoration of all affected services, noting that delayed emails would be delivered within 48 hours. Microsoft has issued a formal apology for the significant global disruption.