Microsoft has successfully resolved a significant web access issue that affected Outlook users, primarily in North America. The outage, which lasted several hours, was more widespread than initially thought, affecting users beyond North America and causing significant disruption.
The company confirmed the outage via its Microsoft 365 Status Twitter account, stating, “We’re investigating an Outlook for the web access issue affecting our customers in North America.” However, as the investigation continued, it became clear that the issue was not confined to North America alone.
Microsoft attempted to rectify the problem by issuing a build change, but this initial fix did not restore service as expected. The company then deployed another fix, which proved successful. Microsoft announced, “We’ve confirmed that deployment of the fix has completed, and impact has been mitigated.”
The outage sparked a flurry of reports from users experiencing problems with Outlook. According to the online outage monitor website Downdetector, about 67% of people reported problems while using Outlook, 23% while using the website, and 10% while logging in.
This incident follows a major extended outage that affected nearly all of Microsoft’s 365 services earlier in June. The company later admitted that the outage was due to a denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. However, there is currently no word on what caused this latest extended outage for Outlook.
Microsoft’s swift response to the outage and successful deployment of a fix underscores the company’s commitment to maintaining the reliability of its services. However, the incident also highlights the challenges tech companies face in ensuring uninterrupted service in the face of increasing cyber threats and technical issues.
