Microsoft struggles to repair worldwide outage. Here's what you need to know

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on TIME News or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: A worldwide Microsoft outage has entered its second day, disrupting Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services used by businesses and governments
• Although Microsoft reports progress in restoring access, users across multiple regions continue to face intermittent failures, affecting communications, operations and workplace productivity

🔭 The context: The disruption began Thursday and peaked in the United States with nearly 130,000 reported Outlook problems and more than 45,000 Microsoft 365 incidents on Downdetector
• Governments, healthcare providers, airlines and technology companies have reported operational difficulties, including email disruptions at UK government offices and NHS practices
• Microsoft says it has no evidence of malicious activity, while Australian officials suggest a faulty software update could be responsible

🌍 Why it matters for planet: The outage highlights the environmental stakes of increasingly centralized digital infrastructure
• Cloud services and data centres require substantial electricity and water, while repeated disruptions and emergency recovery operations can add to resource demands

⏭️ What’s next: Microsoft engineers are restarting affected infrastructure, validating servers and deploying automated recovery mechanisms to restore services progressively
• Organizations are meanwhile relying on alternative communication channels, including phone services, while monitoring recovery and potential operational consequences

💬 One quote: “At this time, we have no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident,” - Microsoft

📈 One stat: Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 reports of Outlook problems in the United States around 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, illustrating the scale of the disruption

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