Microsoft crash affects more than 30 million subscribers including companies, schools and hospitals

More than 30 million subscribers, including companies, public bodies and individual users, have been experiencing failures in Microsoft applications for more than 20 hours. In total, the Microsoft 365 package brings together a base of more than 450 million active users worldwide, according to the company's balance sheets. Complaints on the internet focus on the Outlook email service.

The failures compromise the communication of large industries, urban mobility companies, banks like Itaú, as well as hospitals. The Office package is also used by school networks, which face instability in their email systems.

Ministries and regulatory agencies needed to open alternative service channels due to the drop in Outlook, Folha found. Sought to comment on possible difficulties faced by operators in complying with regulatory obligations, Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) reported that it had not received any reports of impact.

Although it is difficult to calculate the damage caused by the outage, lawyers are already discussing whether technology suppliers can be held responsible for the financial losses resulting from the interruption of service. The episode also raises suspicions about possible security flaws capable of exposing sensitive data.

The manufacturer of the Office suite denies that there was a cyber attack and claims to be investigating reports of problems, mainly concentrated in communication services. "We appreciate our customers' patience as we work to restore services as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.

At X, still on Thursday afternoon (12), Microsoft acknowledged that instability had reached all of its operating regions. Repairs, however, are progressing at different paces between the affected areas.

In a publication on X around 10:30 am (Brasília time) this Friday (13), the Microsoft 365 status account stated that the company is making progress in restoring the systems. "We are seeing continued progress in the recovery of affected regions, with broader improvements in North America, consistent improvements across much of Europe, and encouraging signs of recovery in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

Some users began reporting the system's return at around 9 am (Brasília time), first in the United States, although complaints on the Downdetector platform continue to be registered.

Instability has also reached the artificial intelligence sector. OpenAI and Anthropic reported that the outage took down their generative models' access to Microsoft 365 connectors. "The most likely thing is that the integration was down because the system that the AI ​​accesses is down," says Diogo Cortiz, professor of computer science at PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of the State of São Paulo).

Microsoft is expected to detail the causes of the incident in the coming days, if the episode meets the transparency requirements of the American stock market, through a statement to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, the US securities commission).

For lawyer specializing in digital law Alexander Coelho, the report needs to clarify both the criteria for liability for losses and the measures adopted to guarantee the protection of customer data.