On July 30, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform experienced a global outage affecting numerous services, including Microsoft 365, the Admin Center, Intune, Entra, and Power Platform.
The disruption was traced back to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, as confirmed by Microsoft’s mitigation statement. This attack aimed to overload Microsoft’s systems, causing significant service interruptions. While Microsoft’s security measures helped manage the attack, a configuration error led to additional overloads, making Azure services intermittently unavailable.
The outage lasted around eight hours, with users reporting severe access issues and degraded performance across Microsoft 365. A temporary workaround was implemented in the afternoon, and by evening, services were restored. Microsoft plans to release a detailed analysis of the incident soon.
This latest issue follows a series of setbacks for Microsoft. A faulty CrowdStrike update earlier this month led to a global IT outage, and additional problems with Windows 10 and 11 updates have caused further frustration. With Azure facing scrutiny and recent quarterly reports showing underwhelming growth, Microsoft is having a challenging month.