A widespread Microsoft outage has caused significant disruptions to numerous websites and services globally, including Heathrow Airport, NatWest Bank, and Minecraft. The issue, which began on Wednesday, affected Microsoft 365 applications such as Outlook and Teams, as well as the Azure cloud computing platform. Microsoft attributed the outage to DNS issues, similar to the root cause of last week’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage. Azure reported a ‘degradation of some services’ at 1600 GMT, with its network infrastructure marked as ‘critical’ in every region worldwide. Other impacted entities include UK supermarket Asda, mobile operator O2, US coffee chain Starbucks, and retailer Kroger. The Scottish Parliament also suspended business due to technical issues with its online voting system, believed to be linked to the Microsoft outage. Microsoft is working to reroute affected traffic and restore services using a recent backup, though no timeline for resolution has been provided. Experts warn that the concentration of cloud services in a few major providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google increases the risk of widespread disruptions. Dr. Saqib Kakvi of Royal Holloway University noted that such outages can cripple hundreds, if not thousands, of applications and systems, highlighting the risks of resource consolidation in the tech industry.
Heathrow, NatWest and Minecraft sites down amid global Microsoft outage
