Microsoft reports gradual service recovery following major global outage affecting 74 countries

Microsoft services are showing signs of gradual recovery following a major global outage that disrupted various platforms starting around 6:00 PM on Thursday, November 13, 2026. The disruption affected users across 74 countries and impacted essential digital tools including Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365, and the Copilot AI assistant. Microsoft reported that service availability and email delivery performance are showing sustained improvements across the affected infrastructure.

Cause of the global disruption

The outage was caused by an overload in the process responsible for establishing secure connections on servers. This technical failure occurred despite concerns regarding external interference, as the company confirmed the issue was not a cyberattack or malicious AI interference. While the recovery process is underway, a 48-hour email timeout window remains in place to protect delayed messages during the restoration of services.

The scale of the disruption was significant across multiple sectors. The outage impacted the United Kingdom Government, the National Health Service, various banks, courts, schools, and airlines. Downdetector reported a spike in Microsoft Teams issues in the United Kingdom at approximately 6:15 PM on Thursday, November 13, 2026. In the United States, Downdetector recorded over 130,000 reports of Outlook issues at the peak of the event.

Impact and report statistics

The intensity of the user dissatisfaction was reflected in the volume of real-time reports. At the peak of the outage, reports indicated that nearly 20,000 reports per minute were being made. This rate of reporting was over 1,500 times the average volume of reports. These figures highlight the widespread nature of the disruption affecting the global user base.

Microsoft 365 currently serves over 430 million users worldwide. The scale of this user base contributed to the massive volume of reports recorded during the peak of the service failure. Microsoft executive vice-president Charles Lamanna stated, "The company is seeing encouraging recovery progress with improving service availability and email delivery performance."

Recovery and ongoing monitoring

As the company works to stabilize the infrastructure, the focus remains on ensuring that email delivery performance returns to standard levels. The 48-hour timeout window is a precautionary measure to ensure that messages delayed during the initial outage are not lost as the system stabilizes. Microsoft continues to monitor the status of its various platforms to ensure that the secure connection processes on its servers are functioning correctly and without overload.

The recovery process is described as gradual, with improvements appearing across the affected infrastructure. While services are returning to normal, the company continues to manage the impact on the 430 million users who rely on Microsoft 365 and related services for daily operations in various professional and public sectors.

Glossary

• Microsoft 365 — Microsoft 365 is a service that includes various applications and services. It serves over 430 million users worldwide for daily operations in professional and public sectors.
• Copilot AI assistant — The Copilot AI assistant is a digital tool provided by Microsoft. It is designed to assist with tasks in applications like Outlook and Office.
• United Kingdom Government — The United Kingdom government is a governing body that has implemented strategies like CONTEST to improve cooperation between security services and other organisations.