Microsoft Apologizes for Global Outage Amid Billion-Dollar Risks to Australia

The Microsoft outage threatens to trigger a severe economic crisis in Australia, potentially forcing some small businesses to shut down, with costs projected to reach into the billions of dollars, experts warn.

Microsoft issued a sincere apology, stating that the widespread outage disrupted millions of users, organisations and businesses worldwide and that it has resolved the underlying issue.

The company described the outage as a technical problem unrelated to cyber‑attacks or AI agents and said it is progressively restoring services.

Analysts note that the incident highlights Australia’s dependence on foreign technology, and those unable to receive payments, issue invoices, or access government services are justified in their concerns.

Microsoft’s services experienced an outage that began Friday morning and persisted for about 18 hours before gradually recovering, with the company emphasizing a cautious restoration to ensure stability.

Ashwin Pal, a partner at RSM Australia, explained that his clients had activated business continuity and disaster recovery plans, though many enterprises lacked a fallback.

Pal warned that a prolonged outage could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for smaller entities.

Pal noted that Microsoft appeared to struggle with recovery, prompting broader questions.

Pal, a technologist, expressed astonishment that such an incident could occur, adding that the change was deployed without adequate testing.

The Australian Computer Society has renewed its call for the federal government to urgently review critical IT systems that depend on a single provider and to identify backup options that could sustain the economy.

Prins Ralston, chief executive of the Australian Computer Society, said the outage exposed Australia’s reliance on foreign technology, especially affecting small businesses.

Ralston said Australians who could not be paid, could not send invoices, or could not access government services were entitled to worry.

Australian hospitals and health clinics were affected by the outage, but the Australian Medical Association (AMA) stated that patient care remained unaffected.

Some facilities reverted to paper prescriptions because multifactor verification for prescribing software requires access to Microsoft‑supported email, Dr Michael Bonning, president of the AMA, explained.

Courts in South Australia and Victoria reported that the outage affected their email systems, and many schools nationwide were also impacted.

Service NSW urged customers to postpone visits to its service centres.

Federal government departments, including national security agencies, were also affected by the outage.

Mike Burgess, head of the domestic spy agency ASIO, said on Friday that the agency’s systems operate on multiple levels and were affected on one level, though not completely.

The outage impacted businesses and organisations worldwide that rely on Microsoft products.

In the UK, healthcare systems faced disruption and several police forces urged the public to report crimes by phone rather than online.

US government offices nationwide were affected, including congressional offices that depend heavily on Outlook email; the House’s chief administrative officer issued a campus‑wide alert to staff on Thursday, Politico reported.

In Japan, shipping firm Sagawa Express said it could not accept online reservations for some airport and train station services, while pharmaceutical company Taisho said it was processing orders by phone.

When Wall Street trading opened, Microsoft’s share price slipped slightly, down 1.1% to $516.86.

Microsoft suggested the outage may have resulted from misconfigurations on servers that maintain Microsoft 365.

Microsoft’s executive vice‑president of Copilot, Charles Lamanna, said the company regrets the customer disruptions caused by today’s outages and is working to resolve the issue.

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