A major Microsoft failure on Wednesday caused widespread disruption to online services around the world. Heathrow Airport, NatWest, and Minecraft were among the platforms affected, going offline for several hours before engineers restored access later in the evening. Millions of users faced interruptions to banking, work, and entertainment.
Thousands of users report website failures
Outage tracker Downdetector recorded thousands of complaints from users who could not access websites, send emails, or log into accounts. Many experienced frozen pages, stalled transactions, and unresponsive apps.
Microsoft confirmed that users of Microsoft 365 experienced delays, particularly with Outlook. By 21:00 GMT, most websites had returned online after engineers rolled back a faulty update that caused the outage.
Azure cloud disruption triggers global ripple effect
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, which underpins much of the internet, reported “service degradation” around 16:00 GMT. The company said “DNS issues” caused the disruption, the same fault behind a recent Amazon Web Services outage.
Amazon confirmed its systems continued to run normally.
In the UK, Asda, M&S, and O2 websites were affected. In the US, Starbucks and Kroger customers also reported access problems.
Businesses struggle to stay online
Microsoft said many corporate clients using Microsoft 365 were among the hardest hit. Some of its own web pages displayed an error message reading, “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
Because the service status page was down, Microsoft posted live updates on X to keep users informed.
NatWest confirmed temporary website downtime but said mobile banking, chat, and phone services remained available.
Consumer watchdog urges transparency and compensation
Consumer group Which? said companies had a duty to support customers and provide clear communication. “Customers should keep evidence of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said Which? legal expert Lisa Webb. She advised anyone affected to contact providers and request waivers for late fees.
Scottish Parliament halts business
In Scotland, parliamentary proceedings were suspended after the online voting system failed. Lawmakers postponed debate on a land reform bill designed to allow government intervention in private sales and the breakup of large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the outage appeared to be linked to Microsoft’s global disruption.
Experts warn of risks from relying on few tech giants
The full scope of the outage remains unclear, though Microsoft Azure controls roughly 20% of the global cloud market. Microsoft said the incident resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change,” an internal system adjustment with unintended consequences.
Dr Saqib Kakvi from Royal Holloway University said global dependence on Microsoft, Amazon, and Google increases vulnerability. “When one fails, hundreds or thousands of services go offline,” he said. “We’ve concentrated digital infrastructure into a few hands.”
Incident exposes fragility of digital infrastructure
Professor Gregory Falco of Cornell University said the outage showed how delicate online systems have become. “Azure and AWS may seem like unified platforms, but they are made up of thousands of interconnected components,” he explained.
Falco noted that some components are managed directly by providers while others rely on third parties such as CrowdStrike, whose update last year disrupted millions of Microsoft systems.
He warned that a single technical error can trigger global outages, demonstrating how dependent modern society is on a small number of cloud networks.
