A widespread Microsoft outage on Wednesday disrupted key online platforms worldwide. Heathrow Airport, NatWest, and Minecraft were among the services offline for several hours before engineers restored access later that evening. Millions of users faced interruptions to banking, work, and entertainment services.
Thousands of users report website and app failures
Outage tracker Downdetector recorded thousands of complaints from users unable to access websites, send emails, or log into accounts. Many experienced frozen pages, stalled transactions, and unresponsive applications.
Microsoft confirmed that users of Microsoft 365 faced delays, particularly with Outlook. By 21:00 GMT, most affected websites were back online after engineers rolled back a faulty software update.
Azure cloud issues ripple across the internet
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, which supports much of the global internet, reported “service degradation” around 16:00 GMT. The company said “DNS issues” caused the outage—the same technical fault behind last week’s Amazon Web Services disruption.
Amazon confirmed its systems continued operating normally.
In the UK, Asda, M&S, and O2 websites went offline. In the US, Starbucks and Kroger customers also reported temporary outages.
Businesses scramble to maintain operations
Microsoft said corporate clients using Microsoft 365 were among the hardest hit. Some of its own web pages displayed the error message: “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
With its service status page offline, Microsoft posted live updates on X to keep users informed.
NatWest reported brief website downtime but confirmed mobile banking, chat, and phone services remained operational.
Consumer group urges companies to compensate customers
Consumer watchdog Which? called on businesses to provide clear communication and support for affected users. “Customers should keep evidence of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said legal expert Lisa Webb. She advised anyone impacted to contact providers and request fee waivers.
Scottish Parliament suspends business during outage
The Scottish Parliament paused proceedings after its online voting system failed. Lawmakers postponed debate on land reform legislation designed to allow government intervention in private land sales and the breakup of large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the disruption appeared linked to Microsoft’s global failure.
Experts warn of risks from reliance on a few cloud giants
The full scale of the outage remains unclear, though Microsoft Azure controls roughly 20% of the global cloud market. Microsoft said the incident resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change,” an internal adjustment with unintended consequences.
Dr Saqib Kakvi from Royal Holloway University said dependence on Microsoft, Amazon, and Google increases vulnerability. “When one provider fails, hundreds or thousands of services collapse,” he said. “We have concentrated global digital infrastructure into just a few companies.”
Outage exposes fragility of digital infrastructure
Professor Gregory Falco of Cornell University said the incident revealed how fragile modern cloud systems have become. “Azure and AWS may appear unified, but they consist of thousands of interconnected components,” he explained.
Falco noted that some systems are managed directly by providers, while others rely on third-party partners such as CrowdStrike, whose update last year disrupted millions of Microsoft devices.
He warned that even a single technical error can trigger global outages, highlighting how dependent modern society has become on a handful of cloud networks.
