Global Microsoft service outage causes widespread disruptions

A massive IT outage affecting Microsoft services began on the afternoon of Thursday, November 12, 2026, and persisted for nearly 20 hours. The disruption impacted users, businesses, and government agencies across at least 74 countries. Key services including Outlook, Exchange Online, Teams, and Copilot experienced significant failures, leading to operational difficulties in sectors ranging from finance to aviation. In some instances, organizations were forced to revert to manual processes, such as the use of fax machines for financial transactions, while many employees used the downtime as an unexpected break.

Microsoft has ruled out malicious intent, attributing the issue to server strain and infrastructure load. The company has reported steady progress in recovery, with improvements observed in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. While core state digital systems in Cyprus remained functional, official email communications were affected. Microsoft has extended the window for the delivery of delayed emails to 48 hours to prevent loss. Technical teams continue to gradually restore server capacity to avoid further system overload, with users still experiencing intermittent access issues as stabilization continues.