A large-scale outage occurred on Microsoft's Microsoft 365 platform, leaving Outlook and Copilot unavailable and causing problems to spread worldwide. Government agencies have also been affected, and there is no prospect of full recovery after recovery measures failed.
A major outage has occurred on Microsoft's cloud service Microsoft 365, leaving multiple services, including Outlook for email and Copilot for AI functions, unavailable in locations around the world, including Japan. The outage has continued for an extended period, and reports indicate that its impact is spreading.
Microsoft reportedly disclosed shortly after noon Japan time on the 13th that its recovery measures had not produced the expected results and was considering alternative measures. At present, the timing of full recovery remains unclear, and only limited restoration has been reported.
The impact has spread to government agencies and private-sector companies, and it has been reported that the government's information systems infrastructure, GSS (Government Shared Services), has also been affected. Major companies are seeking alternative ways to continue operations, such as switching order processing to chat.
Email and calendar functions have reportedly been unavailable at US government agencies and universities, among others, raising concerns that the operation of the legislature and government agencies could also be affected. The cause is currently unknown, and continued investigation and response are required.