The global Microsoft outage has caused widespread disruption across the UK, affecting hospitals, GPs, and police forces. NHS services faced serious issues, with staff resorting to paper records due to inaccessible email and IT facilities. The outage also impacted schools, businesses, and travel, with potential delays in prescription delivery and difficulties accessing digital tickets.
The disruption led to significant challenges in various sectors, including the courts, where staff searched for fax machines, and the education system, where schools and universities couldn't access emails. The outage began late Thursday, with Microsoft reporting early signs of stabilization on Friday morning.
While the Microsoft outage did not appear to be a cyber-attack, it highlighted the need for greater resilience against technology failures. The UK government was working with Microsoft to assess the impact, and contingency plans were in place to ensure critical operations continued.
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