Microsoft Outlook was slowly coming back online Friday following a global outage that impacted untold thousands of individuals and businesses who struggled to access their email and other electronic services.
It remained unclear what prompted the outage, which began Thursday morning and impacted public and private customers, but Microsoft officials said Friday morning the issue was not the result of any kind of hack or cyber attack.
“We will continue to share more information as we have it, and for now we can confirm that there is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity,” according to an update on X by Microsoft 365 Status. “Our teams are reviewing what happened and how we can prevent similar issues going forward.”
While that investigation continued, many companies were opening for business Friday with their Outlook services restored or slowly coming back online.
“We’re seeing encouraging recovery progress, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected infrastructure,” according to the Microsoft update. “We know our customers rely on our services to get important work done every day, and regret the impact these outages had on those who depend on us.”
Microsoft extended the “email timeout window” to 48 hours due to the problem.
When the outage began Thursday, Downdetector, a website that monitors service disruptions through user reports, logged more than 130,000 reports of Outlook problems shortly after 10:27 a.m. More than 46,000 reports of problems with Microsoft 365 and about 3,000 reports involving Teams also were logged, according to various reports.
Microsoft reported earlier Thursday morning that it had resolved a separate Teams disruption affecting users in North America, but warned that broader Microsoft 365 service connectivity remained impacted.
In Southern California, Culver City and Los Angeles County were among those affected, as well as local law enforcement agencies.
“The outage is impacting the city’s ability to provide certain services to residents and community members. Responses from City Hall staff may be delayed. Emergency services are unaffected,” according to an advisory from Culver City posted Thursday.
“Residents are encouraged to postpone nonessential in-person visits and utilize available online or telephone services when possible,” the advisory read. “We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to minimize service disruptions. Additional updates will be provided as information becomes available.”
Both the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Thursday they were having issues accessing their Microsoft email, and the program not working.
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn confirmed some county departments were impacted, but she emphasized the issue was not halting any work.
“The Outlook outage has thrown a wrench in the day of a lot of our county employees. But the business serving our residents continues, and I think this will be a good lesson in picking up the phone, or walking to your coworker’s office down the hall, instead of just relying on emails,” Hahn said in a statement.
The county posted a message on its website noting that the outage “is currently blocking county departments from accessing email and key communications platforms. While Microsoft works to resolve their system failure, you can reach any department, office or agency by phone using the directory at lacounty.gov.”
The county’s general information number is 213-974-1234.
A statement from the Superior Court of Los Angeles County stated that though its email was affected by the outage, all courthouses remain open and hearings are proceeding as scheduled.
“Remote appearance technology is not affected, and our call centers remain available to assist you. We appreciate your patience while the issue is resolved,” the statement read.
The Los Angeles Mayor’s Office indicated it was not experiencing any disruptions, citing its use of Google Suite. However, it was unclear if other departments in the city had challenges with accessing their email or if the Microsoft disruption had affected services.
The Department of Water and Power and Los Angeles World Airports use Microsoft Outlook. A representative for DWP confirmed the utility’s email was impacted as well, but no electric or water services were disrupted. Customers can reach DWP at 1-800-DIAL-DWP, or 1-800-342-5397, and via their social media accounts.
Meanwhile, a representative for Metro also confirmed the agency had been impacted by Microsoft’s issues. Maya Pogoda, a spokeswoman for Metro, told CNS the problem with Outlook did not impact bus or rail service, but encouraged customers to call 323-GO-METRO, or 323-466-3876, to contact a customer service representative, if needed.