Microsoft’s customers were unable to gain access to their email or videoconferencing systems on Monday, as a wave of outages spread across the country after a faulty software update inside the company’s huge computer network.
The outages primarily affected Microsoft Outlook, the company’s email software, and Microsoft Teams, the company’s video and communications program.
Users began reporting issues around 9 a.m. on Monday, according to reports tracked by the site Downdetector.com, which monitors internet outages across the world. It was unclear how many people were affected, but it appeared that Microsoft’s customers in the United States and at least several other countries had experienced issues.
In a post to X on Monday, Microsoft acknowledged the outage and said that it was because of a “recent change” to its software that had affected a number of its servers. The company said that it had deployed an update that was being rolled out to 98 percent of its customers, but that it was still taking time to bring the machines that were in an “unhealthy state” back online.
“We’re facing delays in our recovery efforts and are taking immediate action to address them,” the company said in a post on X. “We understand the significant impact of this event to your businesses and are working to provide relief as soon as possible.”
Microsoft did not provide a time frame for fully fixing the issues. The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for further comment.
The outage is a rarity for the Redmond, Wash., company, which provides workplace software to hundreds of millions of people. It is also a reminder of the occasional fragility of today’s computer systems — as well as the world’s dependence on them.
In July, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company, affected Microsoft users and rippled across the globe to take down systems used by services ranging from airlines to hospitals to train networks. Though Microsoft was not at fault, the company was criticized for its dependence on the lesser-known company.
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