Outlook also affected: Microsoft services worldwide with disruptions

Microsoft's cloud offerings such as the Outlook email service are affected by a widespread disruption. The company initially reported problems with Exchange mailboxes in the USA. The company then also said that the disruption could affect users of the Microsoft 365 cloud service worldwide.

According to the disruption platform Downdetector, almost 130,000 problems with Outlook were reported around 7 p.m. (CET). At around 10:30 p.m. there were still around 50,000 reports. The platform also registered thousands of fault reports with the Microsoft Teams communications service and the AI ​​assistant Copilot. Both applications belong to the Microsoft 365 cloud offering.

In messages shared on social media, Microsoft said it was aware of the issues with users in North and South America having difficulty accessing their Exchange Online mailboxes across different connection methods.

Solutions are being sought at high speed

Microsoft said part of its infrastructure is under "increased load" which is "likely contributing to the connectivity issues." The company noted that a number of servers were "unexpectedly unavailable"; The cause of this was a problem that caused them to fail during "automated system checks".

Microsoft is trying to route data traffic past potentially problematic servers, it said. How long the disruption could last initially remained unclear. “We are aggressively pursuing all options to reduce the impact,” wrote the Microsoft 365 Status account on X.