Microsoft ‘deeply sorry’ for outage, says not related to cyberattacks or AI agents
A global outage in Microsoft services has affected several Singapore Government systems, including those of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
The disruption has also affected a number of local banks and other key institutions such as Singapore Airlines (SIA), various town councils and all three public healthcare clusters.
Source: Ed Hardie on Unsplash
Reports of Microsoft outage begin on 13 Nov
Downdetector started receiving reports of issues with Microsoft 365 from Singapore users early on Friday (13 Nov) morning, with the number peaking at 9.11am.
Source: Downdetector
For Microsoft Outlook, the number of problem reports hit 1,136 at 9.13am.
Source: Downdetector
In a post on X, Microsoft said at 1.54am that it was investigating problem reports from the Americas.
Source: MSFT365Status on X
However, it soon confirmed that Microsoft 365 connectivity had been affected for users “in any region”.
Source: MSFT365Status on X
Govt agencies affected by Microsoft outage
As the day progressed, Singapore’s Government agencies started to inform users that they were affected by the Microsoft outage.
IRAS said in a post on X that taxpayers may have difficulties sending emails to them, and advised them to use Live Chat or the myTaxPortal instead.
Source: @irassg on X
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said in a Facebook post that emails to and from the agency might be delayed.
Source: nfocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore on Facebook
The Ministry of Home Affairs said on Facebook that it was experiencing disruptions to its emails and may not be able to respond to emails or feedback.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore on Facebook
Singapore Courts said on Facebook that the issues might affect emails sent to them, including court applications, but online court filing systems remained operational.
Source: SG Courts on Facebook
ICA said on Facebook that its response to some services submitted through FormSG — which allows public officers to create secure digital forms for data collection — might be delayed.
Source: Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on Facebook
SPF also experienced a disruption to Outlook, affecting its ability to receive or respond to emails.
Source: Singapore Police Force on Facebook
In a message on its website, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it had experienced disruption to emails, but its operations were unaffected.
Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore
Some banks affected warn against scammers
Several local banks were also affected, including DBS, UOB, OCBC, HSBC and Maybank, who reached out over social media to inform customers.
DBS said its responses to e-mails would be delayed, but transactions on its ATMs, cards, digibank and PayLah! were unaffected. It warned customers to beware of scammers claiming to resolve system issues.
UOB said it was experiencing “email connectivity issues”, while HSBC said emails and other communications sent to them may be delayed, possibly affecting the submission of instructions, requests or queries.
OCBC’s responses to customer inquiries might be delayed, it said, adding that urgent help can be provided via relationship managers or customer service hotlines. It also warned customer to be vigilant against scammers.
MayBank also noted delays in its email communications, though all banking services were operating as normal. It, too, warned against scams and advised customers not to click on links or open attachments from unknown sources.
In a media statement, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said banks affected by the Microsoft outage have reached out to customers with alternative ways to get in touch, as well as included notices on various channels to alert customers.
Other institutions affected
Other institutions affected by the outage included public healthcare clusters SingHealth, National University Health System (NUHS) and NHG Health.
All three apologised for delays in email responses due to the disruption.
Source: SingHealth on Facebook
Source: National University Health System – NUHS on Facebook
Source: NHG Health on Facebook
National carrier SIA said in a Facebook advisory that customers might face longer response times to enquiries, but the airline’s flight operations and other services are not affected.
Source: Singapore Airlines
Meanwhile, at least four town councils — Pasir Ris-Changi, Nee Soon, Tampines and Tanjong Pagar — revealed that they were affected in separate Facebook posts.
Pasir Ris-Changi Town Council said its email responses “may take a little longer than usual”, while Nee Soon Town Council said its feedback and call centre services might be affected, resulting in delays in responses.
The other two town councils noted that their feedback forms were temporarily unavailable.
Source: Our Tanjong Pagar on Facebook
Microsoft apologises for outage
As the outage crept into a second day without full recovery, Microsoft said on Saturday (14 Nov) morning that it was “deeply sorry” for the disruption that the incident has caused.
Source: @Microsoft on X
The company has been posting regular updates on recovery, including a post on Friday night saying the recovery progress was “encouraging”, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected infrastructure.
It maintained that the outage was a “technical issue” not related to cyberattacks or AI agents, but was “introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change”.
It also resolved to release a full post-incident report once the review is complete.
Also read: Windows devices affected by major IT outage, airports & banks affected
Windows devices affected by major IT outage, airports & banks affected
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Featured image adapted from Ed Hardie on Unsplash.
