Technology1 min read

Faxes, phones and Bluetooth: Microsoft outage forces businesses to find fixes

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The widespread disruption led Microsoft to implement server fixes, reporting signs of stabilization while confirming that no malicious activity had triggered the event. To keep daily operations moving, major organizations instructed clients and staff to revert to legacy tools like phone calls, faxes, and Bluetooth transfers. British lenders Barclays and HSBC activated specialized incident teams, with HSBC strictly barring employees from using unapproved channels such as personal email or WhatsApp.

Key points

  • Microsoft attributed the service failure to internal server issues rather than any malici…: Microsoft attributed the service failure to internal server issues rather than any malicious or hostile cyber activity.
  • Trading professionals noted reduced market volumes as execution hurdles hindered normal c…: Trading professionals noted reduced market volumes as execution hurdles hindered normal communication flows across financial institutions.
  • Industry analysts highlighted the incident as an urgent call for corporations to diversif…: Industry analysts highlighted the incident as an urgent call for corporations to diversify providers and reinforce operational contingency plans.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

While most reported their core systems were still running, trading and administrative work slowed in places in the latest reminder of how much of the world's commerce, public services and communications run on a handful of technology providers.

LONDON: Old-school technology including telephones, faxes and Bluetooth limited the damage for some people on Friday (Nov 13) as a worldwide outage of Microsoft's Outlook left millions without email.

The prolonged disruption, which also hit Microsoft Teams and Copilot, affected some of the world's biggest institutions, from bankers and traders to shipping firms.

While most reported their core systems were still running, trading and administrative work slowed in places in the latest reminder of how much of the world's commerce, public services and communications run on a handful of technology providers.

"The pressure is mounting to invest in contingency plans and test whether those backups actually work when needed," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore, adding that firms needed multiple providers for key services like communication and data storage.

Microsoft, which says on its website that more than 430 million people use…

Technology