As you have probably seen reported there is a major Microsoft outage. Details we know so far:
- This is a Microsoft-wide outage, not a TMB or client fault. There is nothing TMB can fix on the client side.
- Started: Thursday 12 November, about 16:15 UK time.
- Cause: (Microsoft’s words, paraphrased): servers handling Exchange Online connections are getting overloaded and dropping out. Microsoft reports no malicious activity.
Status as of about 07:30 UK: still ongoing, partial recovery in some regions, no ETA from Microsoft.
Services affected:
- Outlook email (desktop, web, mobile)
- Teams
- SharePoint / OneDrive
- Copilot
- Intune, Planner, To Do, Power BI, Universal Print
Delayed mail is not lost. It should arrive once Microsoft restores service, possibly in a burst.
FAQ’s:
Q: When will it be fixed?
A: Microsoft haven’t given a time yet. They’ve had some partial recovery overnight but it hasn’t held. There will be updates provided by Microsoft and we will update as soon as we hear.
Q: Is it a cyber attack? Have we been hacked?
A: No. Microsoft have said it isn’t caused by any malicious activity. It’s a problem inside their own data centres, and your systems haven’t been compromised.
Q: Will I lose emails? Will people get bounce-backs?
A: Your emails aren’t lost. Mail sent to you is queued and should arrive once service is restored, though it may come in all at once. If you’re expecting something urgent, it’s worth phoning the sender.
Q: I need to send something urgently.
A: For anything time critical we suggest phoning or using Teams chat for internal messages. Teams chat is mostly still working.
Q: I’ve had an email/call saying to reset my Microsoft password because of the outage?
A: Please don’t act on it. Scammers use outages like this to send fake messages. Microsoft won’t contact you to fix this.
Q: Can I do anything else?
A: Unfortunately we have to wait for Microsoft to fix the underlying issues. Please don’t reinstall Office, delete or rebuild your Outlook profile, or reset your password. None of that will help while Microsoft is down, and it can cause extra problems once it comes back.
Q: Can I contact TMB?
A: Of course, although to repeat there is little or nothing TMB can do to help at this stage, and as you would expect we are receiving very high levels of contacts from our customers so calls and messages may be delayed. We will continue to update regularly.
