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A widespread Microsoft outage is reportedly causing disruptions for various online platforms and services, including Heathrow Airport, NatWest Bank, and the popular game Minecraft.
Downdetector, a service that tracks online outages, has registered thousands of reports indicating issues across numerous websites globally on Wednesday.
Microsoft has acknowledged that some Microsoft 365 users may be experiencing delays with services such as Outlook.
The company’s Azure cloud computing platform, which supports a significant portion of the internet infrastructure, reported a “degradation of some services” starting at 1600 GMT.
According to Microsoft, the issue stems from “DNS issues,” echoing the root cause of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that occurred last week.
Amazon has stated that AWS is currently operating without incident.
Other organizations reportedly affected in the UK include supermarket chain Asda and mobile network operator O2. In the US, users have reported problems accessing the websites of Starbucks and Kroger.
Microsoft has indicated that its Microsoft 365 business customers may also encounter difficulties.
Some Microsoft web pages displayed error notifications, stating, “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
A Microsoft spokesperson stated that the company is actively working to “address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services,” and updates are being shared on the Azure status page.
The company has identified connectivity problems within its infrastructure and is working to “reroute affected traffic to restore service health.”
Microsoft has initiated a thread on X providing updates, following reports that some users were unable to access the service status page.
Separately, the Scottish Parliament has suspended business due to technical difficulties with its online voting system.
A senior source within the Scottish Parliament told BBC News that they believe the issues are linked to the Microsoft outage.
While NatWest’s website has been affected, the bank has confirmed that its mobile banking, web chat, and telephone customer services remain operational.
NatWest customers with online banking bookmarked were able to access that service as well, the bank said.
According to Azure’s service status page, network infrastructure is marked as “critical” in all regions globally.
The precise extent of the internet’s impact remains unclear, but estimates typically place Microsoft Azure’s share of the global cloud market at approximately 20%.
The firm stated that it believes the outage resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change.”
In essence, a behind-the-scenes system adjustment was made, leading to unintended consequences.
Microsoft plans to resolve the issue by replacing the current service with a recent backup known to be functioning correctly.
However, the company has not provided an estimated timeframe for resolution.
Dr. Saqib Kakvi of Royal Holloway University commented that the concentration of cloud services among Microsoft, Amazon, and Google means that an outage of this nature “can cripple hundreds, if not thousands of applications and systems.”
He added, “Due to cost of hosting web content, economic forces lead to consolidation of resources into a few very large players, but it is effectively putting all our eggs in one of three baskets.”
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