Microsoft outage disrupts email services of PHL Supreme Court, businesses

The country’s highest court and several businesses in the banking, hospitality, and airline industries have experienced email disruptions during a roughly 10-hour outage of Microsoft services, including Outlook and Teams, prompting them to advise stakeholders to contact them through alternative platforms. 

Microsoft said the outage was caused by the unexpected unavailability of several servers, affecting Microsoft 365 features that rely on Exchange Online, the company’s cloud-based email service. 

Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 reports of Outlook problems in the United States at around 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday (10:30 a.m. Philippine time on Friday), while reports peaked at more than 130,000 around 1 p.m. ET on Thursday (2 a.m. Philippine time on Friday), according to Reuters. 

In a Facebook post a few hours ago, the Supreme Court of the Philippines (SC) said the Philippine Judiciary 365 (PJ365), the official digital workplace and communication platform of the country’s judiciary, has been affected by the worldwide Microsoft 365 service outage, causing delays in its email responses. 

“During this period, responses to emails and other transactions may be delayed,” the SC said in a statement. 

The highest court said it was working closely with Microsoft to restore all affected PJ365 services and would provide updates as necessary. 

It also thanked the public for its understanding and patience during the temporary disruption. 

Meanwhile, East West Banking Corp. (East West Bank), Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), and Shangri-La The Fort, Manila, also announced disruptions in their email communications through separate public advisories. 

The companies urged customers with urgent concerns to contact their respective customer service hotlines. 

Philippine Airlines also advised customers to use email addresses other than Outlook to receive their electronic tickets. 

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) also encouraged the public to contact its hotlines directly amid the service disruption affecting Microsoft 365. 

In its latest service update, Microsoft said its efforts to improve service availability were not progressing as expected. 

The company said it was identifying alternative workstreams to increase capacity amid sustained traffic management imbalances. 

Microsoft had earlier reported that several servers had become unexpectedly unavailable and said it was redirecting traffic to alternative routes while working to restore the remaining affected servers. 

It also warned that users may experience a gradual recovery as their email clients reconnect to its services. — Edg Adrian A. Eva