A major Microsoft outage on Wednesday sent shockwaves through the digital world, knocking offline some of the most used websites and services. Platforms including Heathrow Airport, NatWest, and Minecraft went dark for several hours before technicians restored them later that evening. Millions of users were left unable to work, bank, or play online.
Thousands report breakdowns worldwide
Outage tracker Downdetector recorded a surge of reports as websites froze and apps failed to load. Users struggled to send emails, log into accounts, or complete online transactions.
Microsoft confirmed that its Microsoft 365 users experienced serious delays with Outlook and other services. By 21:00 GMT, the company said most affected websites had been restored after engineers rolled back a faulty software update.
Azure cloud at the heart of the disruption
The company’s Azure cloud platform, which supports large sections of the global internet, reported “degraded performance” around 16:00 GMT. Microsoft blamed the issue on “DNS problems,” the same technical fault that caused a massive Amazon Web Services outage last week.
Amazon said its own systems were unaffected and continued to run normally.
In Britain, Asda, M&S, and O2 were hit. In the United States, Starbucks and Kroger websites went down, affecting customers across the country.
Businesses rush to keep services online
Microsoft acknowledged that corporate clients using Microsoft 365 were among those worst affected. Some of its own web pages displayed the message: “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
With its service status page unreachable, Microsoft switched to posting updates on X to keep users informed.
NatWest said its website was temporarily offline but confirmed mobile banking, chat, and phone support continued without problems.
Consumers told to keep records of failed payments
Consumer rights group Which? urged companies to take responsibility and offer compensation where appropriate. “Customers should keep evidence of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said Which? consumer law expert Lisa Webb. She advised those worried about missed bills to contact service providers and ask that fees be waived.
Parliament in Scotland forced to halt proceedings
The Scottish Parliament suspended its session after its online voting system stopped working. Lawmakers had to delay a debate on new land reform legislation designed to give the government powers to intervene in private land sales and break up large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the outage appeared to be connected to the Microsoft disruption.
Experts warn of global dependence on few providers
The full scale of the damage remains unclear, though Microsoft Azure is estimated to control about 20% of the global cloud market. The company later said the issue was caused by “an inadvertent configuration change” that had unforeseen consequences.
Dr Saqib Kakvi from Royal Holloway University warned that the internet’s dependence on a handful of cloud giants makes it fragile. “When one major provider goes down, hundreds or even thousands of services follow,” he said. “It’s like putting all our digital infrastructure in three baskets—Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.”
Digital experts say internet infrastructure is too fragile
Professor Gregory Falco from Cornell University said the outage exposed how complex and vulnerable online systems have become. “Platforms like Azure or AWS seem unified, but they’re really made up of thousands of interconnected parts,” he said.
Falco explained that some parts are managed directly by the cloud providers, while others rely on third-party partners such as CrowdStrike. Last year, a CrowdStrike update caused chaos for millions of Microsoft users.
He warned that such incidents show how a single mistake in the digital chain can bring the world’s internet to its knees.
