Microsoft. [Reuters]
Microsoft. [Reuters]

Microsoft apologized Saturday for a widespread service outage affecting Outlook and other productivity software, saying it "deeply regrets the inconvenience caused to our customers and partners."

"We take our responsibility very seriously," the company said, adding that "extensive recovery and stabilization is underway across our services."

On the cause of the disruption, Microsoft drew a line between the incident and any cyberattack or AI and agent-related activity, saying it stemmed from "a technical issue."

The company said the problem originated during a previous network capacity upgrade and resurfaced following a recent network change. Microsoft said it has resolved the underlying issue and is continuing recovery efforts for some customers and regions.

"Given the scale of demand, we restored services gradually while verifying stability at each stage," the company added. "Recovery took longer, but it was a necessary step to ensure a stable restoration."


sjpark@heraldcorp.com