Australia's cybersecurity chief probes Microsoft 365 outage affecting thousands
· Technology · ABC News (AU), Indian Express
Australians experienced widespread disruption to Microsoft email and online services on Friday, 13 November 2026, as national cybersecurity coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness investigated the outage. Businesses and government agencies were brought to a standstill while users reported problems accessing Outlook, Exchange Online, Teams, and SharePoint. Microsoft confirmed issues with its 365 services and attributed the problem to recent configuration changes affecting server health checks. Outage tracking site Downdetector Australia logged over 4,400 reports of Outlook issues by 8:20am local time. University of Melbourne associate professor Adel Toosi warned that the incident highlights the risks of growing reliance on a small number of major cloud providers.
Why it matters
The outage disrupted critical communication and operations for businesses, government agencies, and organisations across Australia dependent on Microsoft 365 services, particularly affecting email access and two-factor authentication. Users unable to receive authentication codes were further locked out of other connected services.
Read the original report — ABC News (AU)
Join us on Telegram
Breaking news the moment it lands. At 10,000 members we ship the Android app.