Microsoft Global Outage: What Caused The Glitches And Damage Control So Far

A widespread technical malfunction originating from Microsoft's Azure backend has disrupted operations across airlines, banks, and major corporations globally, impacting services from customer communications to financial transactions. The outage, which began on July 18, 2024, at 9:56 p.m. UTC, continues to affect various Microsoft 365 apps and services, necessitating manual workarounds and causing significant disruptions.

Reportedly caused by a Crowdstrike update, the outage has affected Windows 11 users globally, leading to restart loops and 'Blue Screen of Death' errors. This disruption has extended to cloud services provided by AWS and Azure, as per Microsoft's Service Health Status website.

"Users may notice that some of the affected users are seeing relief as we continue to mitigate the impact," Microsoft said in its latest statement.

The outage has been attributed to a configuration change in a portion of Microsoft's Azure backend workloads, leading to connectivity failures between storage and compute resources critical for Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft's service status website continues to provide updates on the mitigation efforts, acknowledging the widespread impact on apps and services such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.

As per the latest updates from the Microsoft Service Health Status website, efforts are ongoing to reroute traffic and restore services gradually. However, Microsoft Azure is restored and no issues are detected at present, the company said.

Amazon released a statement later on Friday clarifying that AWS services and network connectivity were not affected by the outage.

"On July 18, 2024, some Windows instances, Windows Workspaces and Appstream applications experienced connectivity issues and reboots due to a recent update of the CrowdStrike Falcon agent (csagent.sys). This update caused a stop error (BSOD) within the Windows operating system. Windows instances and workspaces that do not use CrowdStrike were not affected by this issue," it said in a statement.

In India, airlines such as IndiGo, Spicejet, and Akasa Air have faced operational challenges due to the Microsoft outage. IndiGo, through its official communication channels, informed passengers about the disruptions. "Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time, booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience," the airline said.

Brokerages are also affected due to this outage. Users NDTV Profit spoke with complained of technical glitches on online broking platforms, including 5Paisa, Angel One Ltd. and Groww. Their mobile apps were glitchy, users said.

“Due to a global outage with Crowdstrike/Microsoft, offering a cybersecurity solution, our systems are affected. Our team is working closely with both of them to restore our systems as soon as possible,” 5Paisa said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A spokesperson for BSE Ltd. said the stock exchange hasn’t been impacted. It was business as usual at the National Stock Exchange as well.

Beyond the aviation sector and financial sector, the outage has affected a wide array of industries globally. Major corporations, including McDonald's Corp., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and the London Stock Exchange, reported disruptions in their customer service communications and operational workflows. 

Businesses and organisations affected by the outage have implemented contingency plans, including manual processes and alternative communication channels, to mitigate the impact on their operations and customer services. Microsoft Inc.'s guidance to affected users includes deleting problematic updates and restarting systems, where feasible, to alleviate issues caused by the Azure backend configuration change.