Microsoft Outage Affects Minecraft, NatWest, and More
A Microsoft outage impacted Heathrow, NatWest, and Minecraft services, with delays reported globally. Services expected to restore soon.
A significant Microsoft outage on 2023-10-18 affected numerous services including Minecraft, NatWest, and Heathrow's online systems. Downdetector showed thousands of reports worldwide indicating broad impact.
Key facts
- Microsoft 365 services experienced delays globally due to this outage.
- Azure network infrastructure issues were marked critical at 16:00 GMT.
- The outage stemmed from a DNS issue and configuration change.
- Service restoration involves rerouting traffic and using recent backups.
- UK sites such as Asda and O2 were also impacted, alongside US companies like Starbucks and Kroger.
Impact / What’s next
The disruption highlights the vulnerability of cloud services when major providers face issues. Microsoft is currently working on restoring normal operations, though a specific timeline has not been confirmed. The Scottish Parliament even had to suspend business as it experienced related disruptions to its voting system. This event serves as a reminder of the risks associated with relying heavily on a few cloud service providers.