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Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours

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Cite

The Center Square Staff. (2026, November 13). Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours. Just The News. https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/microsoft-outage-takes-out-lawmakers-email-18-hours?utm_source=justthenews.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=external-news-aggregators

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Just The News · collected 2026-11-15 · by The Center Square Staff

Quick Summary

A Microsoft outage affected approximately 45 state agencies and lawmakers' email for about 18 hours, starting Thursday and continuing into Friday. Democratic state Rep. Joe Ciresi and Republican Rep. Russ Diamond expressed concern over the lack of communication from Microsoft regarding the cause and implications of the outage, suggesting potential vulnerabilities in relying on centralized technology systems. Rep. Ciresi indicated a willingness to convene a hearing to address these issues with Microsoft.
Written by AI on 2026-11-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

AI analysis

Story summary

Microsoft 365 experienced a significant disruption on November 12, 2026, impacting millions of users worldwide and affecting services like Outlook and Microsoft Teams. The outage began with connectivity issues reported by over 120,000 users on Downdetector, preventing access to email and other critical services. Initially, Microsoft cited elevated load on its infrastructure, but later reported that numerous servers unexpectedly became unavailable, shifting the load onto the remaining infrastructure. The disruption lasted for approximately 36 hours, causing widespread issues in business operations, healthcare services, and education. Microsoft announced full service restoration by November 14, 2026, resolving the underlying issue. The company ruled out malicious cyber or AI activity as the cause and expressed deep regret for the disruption.

Written for “Microsoft Restores Services After Global Outage” on 2026-11-15, grounded in this article and the 152 other(s) covering the same event.

How they differ

31 outlets covered “Microsoft Restores Services After Global Outage”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

Just the NewsThis outlet15 Nov

A Microsoft outage affected approximately 45 state agencies and lawmakers' email for about 18 hours, starting Thursday and continuing into Friday. Democratic state Rep. Joe Ciresi and Republican Rep. Russ Diamond expressed concern over the lack of communication from Microsoft regarding the cause and implications of the outage, suggesting potential vulnerabilities in relying on centralized technology systems. Rep…

Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours (this article)8 articles from Just the News on this story
Evening Standard14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that it had restored all services affected by a significant global outage that began on Thursday evening. The company’s Microsoft 365 services, including email, messaging, and AI assistants like Copilot, were disrupted, impacting millions of users worldwide. In the UK, the government implemented contingency measures, and UK police and the NHS reported difficulties in service delivery…

Microsoft says service fully restored after major global outage →25 articles from Evening Standard on this story
Daily Mail14 Nov

Microsoft has fully restored its 365 services following a major global outage that began at 6pm GMT on Thursday and impacted services like Outlook, Teams, and Copilot. The disruption affected over 430 million users, including the NHS, police forces in England and Wales, and various schools and businesses, forcing the UK government to implement contingency measures. While the company attributed the failure to a…

Microsoft 365 is back up! Tech giant says outage that crippled NHS, police, businesses, courts and schools is over (now we've just got to plough through all those unread e-mails) →11 articles from Daily Mail on this story
Toronto Star14 Nov

Microsoft confirmed that it has fully restored services following a massive global outage that began midday Thursday in the U.S. and affected users in more than 70 countries. The disruption impacted critical services like Outlook, Teams, and Copilot for sectors including healthcare, banking, and government operations in countries such as Japan, Singapore, and Australia. Microsoft attributed the incident to a…

Microsoft says services fully restored after hourslong global outage →10 articles from Toronto Star on this story
BBC13 Nov

Microsoft issued an apology for a global technical outage that disrupted services like Outlook and Teams for nearly 24 hours across more than 70 countries. The issue, which affected over 430 million users, originated from a network capacity upgrade and impacted diverse entities ranging from the Japanese government and the UK's NHS to schools, hospitals, and private businesses. The report highlights the wide-ranging…

Microsoft 'deeply sorry' for global outage after almost 24 hours of disruption →9 articles from BBC on this story
The Guardian14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that it has fully restored services following a massive global outage that began on Thursday and affected over 70 countries and territories. The technical failure disrupted Microsoft 365 apps for millions of users, impacting vital public services, healthcare, and government operations in countries including the UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. Microsoft attributed the issue to a…

Microsoft says services fully restored after global outage →7 articles from The Guardian on this story
Show 25 more outlets
Al Jazeera14 Nov

Microsoft services began recovering on Friday following a global outage that disrupted Outlook and Teams in more than 70 countries. The outage impacted essential infrastructure, including courts, pharmacies, and government agencies. Microsoft attributed the disruption to an elevated load and explicitly ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of the incident.

Microsoft services begin recovering after global outage →7 articles from Al Jazeera on this story
Dawn14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that it had restored services following a global outage that affected at least 74 countries. The disruption began on Thursday and impacted products like Outlook email, Teams, and Copilot AI. Microsoft attributed the issue to elevated load on its infrastructure and ruled out cyber or AI-related attacks as the cause. The company apologized for the widespread disruption to public…

Microsoft announces service 'restored,' global outage over →7 articles from Dawn on this story
ABC News (AU)13 Nov

Microsoft issued a public apology after a global technical outage affecting products like Outlook and Teams disrupted healthcare, corporate earnings, and school communications in 74 countries and territories. The company attributed the failure to "elevated load" on its infrastructure following a network capacity upgrade, explicitly ruling out any cyber or AI-related malicious activity as the cause. While Microsoft…

Microsoft 'deeply sorry' for global outage, reports 'broad recovery' of services →6 articles from ABC News (AU) on this story
Global News14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that all services affected by a global outage are now fully restored. The outage, which began on Thursday, disrupted access to Microsoft 365 offerings such as Outlook and Teams for over 24 hours, impacting users in more than 70 countries. The company attributed the issue to network strain caused by unexpected server unavailability during a capacity upgrade. Government entities…

Microsoft says services fully restored after global disruption →5 articles from Global News on this story
The Independent14 Nov

Microsoft confirmed on Saturday that it has fully restored services following a severe global IT disruption that began around 6pm GMT on Thursday. The outage affected millions of users across more than 70 countries and territories, impacting critical infrastructure including the NHS, police forces, schools, and various government operations in nations like Japan, Singapore, and Australia. While the company…

Microsoft confirms services fully restored after major global outage →5 articles from The Independent on this story
New York Post14 Nov

Microsoft restored service to its Outlook and Teams applications following a major outage on Thursday that began around 12:25 p.m. ET. The incident, which was attributed to server issues rather than malicious activity, caused Downdetector to log over 7.4 million reports worldwide, peaking at nearly 20,000 reports per minute. This report highlights the extreme global reliance on a small number of Big Tech providers…

Microsoft restores service to Outlook and Teams after historic outage crippled businesses, governments →5 articles from New York Post on this story
NBC News14 Nov

Microsoft is currently attempting to recover from a massive outage that the company attributes to a technical issue rather than a cyberattack or artificial intelligence. The company reports that it does not yet have a timeline for a full recovery. This report by NBC News focuses on the company's scramble to address the disruption and its official explanation for the cause.

Microsoft scrambles to recover after massive outage →5 articles from NBC News on this story
The Hindu14 Nov

Microsoft reported that its consumer products services fully recovered at 4:10 p.m. UTC on Friday, November 13, 2026, while enterprise Microsoft 365 services showed only sustained recovery. The company is currently monitoring a backlog of accrued email messages before declaring the enterprise issue resolved. This update emphasizes that Microsoft is conducting an extended monitoring period due to the severity of the…

Microsoft says consumer products services recovered; still monitoring enterprise services →5 articles from The Hindu on this story
Toronto Sun13 Nov

Microsoft reported that it is making progress in restoring workplace platforms like Outlook and Teams following a massive global outage that began around 12 p.m. ET on Thursday. The outage reached 74 countries and territories within an hour, impacting tens of millions of users and causing infrastructure failures at organizations such as Unity Health Toronto and VIA Rail. Microsoft identified the root cause as a…

Outlook, Microsoft 365 seeing ‘improvements’ amid global outage →4 articles from Toronto Sun on this story
Sydney Morning Herald13 Nov

Microsoft reported that widespread outages affecting its Outlook, Teams, and Copilot services across more than 70 countries on Thursday were caused by a technical issue during a network capacity upgrade. The company confirmed there was no evidence of cyberactivity, noting that the disruption impacted millions of users including the UK's National Health Service and the US House of Representatives. While Microsoft is…

Microsoft’s global outage and fixes: What we know →4 articles from Sydney Morning Herald on this story
The Straits Times14 Nov

This report describes the internal and external response to a massive Microsoft outage on November 12 that disabled email and services like Teams and Copilot for hospitals, schools, and government offices. Microsoft executives and engineers spent hours triaging the issue, which they identified as a result of a recent network upgrade that shut down servers and forced a gradual, staged restoration to avoid…

Inside Microsoft’s rush to get back online after a Global Outage →4 articles from The Straits Times on this story
CBC14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that it had fully restored services across Teams, Outlook, and other products following a global outage that lasted over 24 hours. The disruption, which affected government agencies and private companies from Australia to the United States, was attributed to server issues specifically tied to Exchange Online rather than malicious activity or AI failures. Downdetector logged more than…

Microsoft services fully restored after global outage →4 articles from CBC on this story
The Globe and Mail14 Nov

This analysis explores how a Microsoft service outage beginning around midday on Thursday in Canada disrupted communications for millions of people, including schools, hospitals, police, and government offices. While the outage hampered productivity for public institutions, the piece highlights a counter-perspective from Professor Fenwick McKelvey, who suggests the temporary silence of email provided workers with a…

How Microsoft’s Outlook outage liberated workers, but hobbled public institutions →4 articles from The Globe and Mail on this story
City A.M.13 Nov

A global Microsoft outage beginning on Thursday evening disrupted critical services like Outlook and Teams, causing significant productivity losses for British companies including Asda, Natwest, and Great Western Railway. While Asda has restored its operations, some experts warn that the outage could become one of the most economically damaging technology failures in history, potentially costing businesses billions…

Asda and Natwest hit as Microsoft outage sparks ‘bad day for UK PLC’ →3 articles from City A.M. on this story
CBS News13 Nov

This report provides a brief news update on an ongoing widespread Microsoft 365 outage. The disruption currently impacts workers who rely on Microsoft's services, including email and other related functions. The text does not provide specific numbers or a timeline for the outage.

Widespread Microsoft 365 outage continues, impacting email and other services →3 articles from CBS News on this story
Washington Examiner13 Nov

Microsoft issued a statement on Friday morning confirming that there is no evidence of malicious activity related to a global outage affecting Outlook and other Office 365 applications. The company stated it will continue to treat the incident with urgency while preparing a Post-Incident Report to identify the root cause and subsequent defense-in-depth actions. The report focuses specifically on the company's…

Microsoft confirms ‘no evidence of malicious activity’ in widespread outage of Outlook →2 articles from Washington Examiner on this story
Daily Caller14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that its Outlook email service, which had been down for about 36 hours, has been fully restored for its 100 million users. The outage began Thursday at 11:17 a.m. EST and affected 74 countries and territories. While Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the company said the issue was related to a network capacity upgrade that went wrong. The outage disrupted…

Microsoft Claims 36-Hour Tech Disruption Of Global Work Productivity Has Been Resolved →2 articles from Daily Caller on this story
ABC News (US)12 Nov

Microsoft reported issues with users accessing their Exchange Online mailboxes and experiencing problems with Microsoft Teams on Thursday. The company initially posted about the disruptions on social media, identifying a possible cause and working towards a fix. Updates indicated that Teams functionality was restored, but issues with Exchange Online mailboxes continued to affect users globally. Microsoft emphasized…

Outlook outage: Microsoft reports 'issues' with Teams and email →
Reason12 Nov

Stanford University is experiencing a service disruption affecting Microsoft Office 365 email and related services, such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online, starting from 9:53 AM on November 12, 2026. The university’s IT department is monitoring the situation and will provide further updates by 1:30 PM. Other services with email integration, including page to email, Mailman, and Cardinal Fax, are also…

Living Today Without Email—Like Animals! →
The Daily Wire12 Nov

Microsoft faced a significant outage on Thursday affecting its Microsoft 365 suite, including Outlook email and Teams collaboration tools, with nearly 130,000 reported issues on Downdetector. The company started experiencing problems accessing Exchange Online shortly before 1 p.m. ET and was working to restart servers and revert recent configuration updates to restore service.

Microsoft Outage Disrupts Email, Workplace Apps →
NPR13 Nov

On Thursday, a significant outage affected Microsoft services including Outlook, causing issues for approximately 130,000 users as reported on Downdetector. Problems included difficulties sending and receiving emails and loading inboxes, alongside issues with Microsoft Teams, Copilot, and other Microsoft 365 applications. Microsoft acknowledged the disruptions and identified them as stemming from an elevated load on…

Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft email and other apps →
The Dispatch13 Nov

This piece is a humorous observation rather than a news report on Nvidia. It notes that Microsoft Outlook and Teams experienced a service outage on Thursday due to reported connectivity errors. The text does not provide any specific numbers or details regarding Nvidia's leadership or future plans.

Jensen Huang Is Out. What’s Next for Nvidia? →
Time13 Nov

A massive Microsoft service outage affecting Outlook, Teams, and Copilot persisted into a second day, disrupting communication for governments, businesses, and healthcare providers globally. The incident impacted major entities including the UK government, the National Health Service, U.S. municipal governments in Florida and Texas, and Australian federal agencies like the ASIO. While Microsoft reported "encouraging…

Microsoft Struggles to Repair Worldwide Outage. Here's What You Need to Know →
Semafor13 Nov

Microsoft reported progress in restoring services after a Thursday outage impacted Outlook, Teams, and Copilot across more than 70 countries. The disruption forced schools and agencies in Australia and Japan to go analog, while UK police departments advised the public to avoid using online crime submission forms. The piece frames the event as a cautionary tale about the global reliance on a few companies as single…

Microsoft reports progress in restoring service after global outage →
Deutsche Welle14 Nov

Microsoft announced on Saturday that it restored services following a global outage lasting more than 24 hours that impacted Microsoft 365 applications like Teams, Outlook, and Copilot. The disruption, which began on Thursday at 1725 UTC, resulted in over 7.4 million reported problems worldwide and forced the British NHS to use paper records due to the inability to access online data. While Microsoft attributed the…

Microsoft says all services working again →

Where they agree and split

Agreed

AI · cited, from two or more outlets

  • Microsoft's outage affected services including Outlook, Teams, and AI assistant Copilot.13
  • Microsoft stated it was not aware of any malicious activity causing the outage.14
Quoted from the coverage (4)

OpenAI and Anthropic each reported that they were facing problems connecting with Microsoft 365 tools, underscoring the ripple effects of outages as more people use artificial intelligence platforms to interact with other companies’ software.

11 outlets

Microsoft determined that the outage, which began around midday Thursday, was not the result of a malicious attack, based on initial information.

10 outlets

Thousands also reported issues with Microsoft’s workplace messaging app Teams, as well as its AI assistant Copilot and wider Microsoft 365 services.

9 outlets

On Wall Street, Workhorse Group, an industrial manufacturer, rescheduled its Q3 earnings call that was scheduled for Thursday afternoon because of the outage.

8 outlets

Framing

How the first headlines put it

  • The Toronto Star and Global News emphasize the impact on companies and governments, while the New York Post focuses on the technical aspects and Microsoft's response.125
  • Deutsche Welle and The Guardian highlight the full restoration of services, while Just the News focuses on the specific impact on lawmakers' email.467
Attributed to a source4
Stated as fact23
The headlines (27)

Outlook outage: Microsoft reports 'issues' with Teams and email ABC News · attributed to a source

Microsoft users report outages amid tech giant 'connectivity issues' BBC · attributed to a source

Widespread outage hits Microsoft platforms including Outlook, thousands report issues NBC News · attributed to a source

Outlook 'is down': Tens of thousands of users report website, login and app issues Daily Mail · attributed to a source

A Microsoft 365 outage is hitting users in regions around the world Global News · stated as fact

Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft apps Toronto Star · stated as fact

Microsoft 365 disruption impacts Outlook, email services for users nationwide Just the News · stated as fact

Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft and OpenAI The Independent · stated as fact

Breaking: Microsoft platforms suffering widespread outages, including Outlook ABC News (Australia) · stated as fact

Microsoft 365 hit by massive outage across the Americas Toronto Sun · stated as fact

Microsoft Outlook outage disrupts email for more thousands of users New York Post · stated as fact

Living Today Without Email—Like Animals! Reason · stated as fact

Microsoft hit by widespread outage Sydney Morning Herald · stated as fact

Microsoft ‘restarting’ as outage impacts global users, with Outlook and Teams affected The Guardian · stated as fact

Microsoft outage hits tens of thousands of users Al Jazeera · stated as fact

Major outage hits Microsoft Outlook; Singapore users affected The Straits Times · stated as fact

Microsoft Outage Disrupts Email, Workplace Apps The Daily Wire · stated as fact

Widespread outages reported across Microsoft apps CBC · stated as fact

Outage hits Microsoft Outlook, impacting more than 120,000 users Washington Examiner · stated as fact

Is Outlook down? Widespread outage hits Microsoft email and other apps NPR · stated as fact

Microsoft 365 outage drags on as company observes ‘limited recovery’ The Hindu · stated as fact

Microsoft outage drags on for hours, disrupting Outlook, Teams for businesses and governments Dawn · stated as fact

Microsoft outage LIVE: Outlook, hotmail and Teams down for London users with fix ‘not going as expected’ Evening Standard · stated as fact

Microsoft struggling to restore Outlook and Teams after global outage City A.M. · stated as fact

Microsoft battling major worldwide outage CBS News · stated as fact

Microsoft outage hits companies and governments worldwide The Globe and Mail · stated as fact

Jensen Huang Is Out. What’s Next for Nvidia? The Dispatch · stated as fact

Words to watch (4)

First Thing: Global Microsoft outage chaos as tech firm says there are ‘signs of stabilisation’ The Guardian

Microsoft meltdown: Caused by AI? A cyber attack? Your questions answered Daily Mail

Microsoft 'deeply sorry' as outage triggers global chaos Dawn

What is causing the Microsoft outage? Experts wade in on tech collapse causing global chaos Evening Standard

The full story: what happened, how it changed, and all 153 articles →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Just The News
Hedges 4 of 29 claims Outlet record 94/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 3 of 23 claims Outlet record 64/100
Al Jazeera
Hedges 1 of 10 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 0 of 13 claims Outlet record 61/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 1 of 11 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Independent
Hedges 0 of 11 claims Outlet record 59/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 7 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 4 of 32 claims Outlet record 64/100
Dawn
Centre Hedges 3 of 46 claims Outlet record 72/100
BBC News
Hedges 2 of 17 claims Outlet record 66/100

Story

Microsoft Restores Services After Global Outage
Technology · 153 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
29
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
4 of 29 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
94/100
Just The News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
153
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Just The News · 557 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

The Center Square Staff
70 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
“Through the program, eligible individuals moving from outside of Wisconsin may receive reimbursement for qualifying relocation expenses, helping make the transition to living and working in Milwaukee more affordable,” the announcement from Employ Milwaukee states.
2026-11-15 · assertive framing · Cash bonuses available to move to Milwaukee
As chairman of a House committee with jurisdiction on the topic, Ciresi said he would consider calling a hearing with intent of having Microsoft "tell us what the deal was."
(The Center Square) — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is preparing to disband a controversial NYPD unit, fulfilling a key campaign pledge for the democratic socialist, who has been criticized for calling to defund the nation's largest police force.
2026-11-15 · assertive framing · Mamdani to disband NYPD strategic response unit
The lawsuit also targets companies associated with Robinhood, Coinbase, Crypto.com, ForecastEx, Gemini, Novig, Underdog and ProphetX. Kalshi had already sued Louisiana officials in federal court in October to prevent state enforcement and sought emergency relief Thursday.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, who breezed past her Republican challenger (Senate President Warren Peterson, R-Gilbert) in the Nov. 3 general election, called for such a measure during her reelection campaign.
Former FAA whistleblower Brian Sullivan, a retired Vietnam-era Army lieutenant colonel and FAA Special Agent, has been warning that another terrorist attack could occur because airline security measures haven’t been implemented, including Congress mandating that secondary cockpit barriers be installed in airplanes and cross agency vetting compliance.
Florida’s newly approved property tax exemption will reduce taxable home values starting in 2027, leaving local governments facing questions about how to cover lost revenue.
California GOP sees shake-up in wake of midterm elections California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin, who won the top position in the California Republican Party in March 2025, will not come back for another term after a number of Republican legislative seats flipped for the Democrats. In the week after the 2026 midterm elections saw the Democrats sweep seats in Congress and the California Legislature, the Golden State’s GOP saw not just state lawmakers voted out of office, but a change in party leadership. California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin, who won the top position in the California Republican Party in March 2025, will not come back for another term after a number of Republican legislative seats flipped for the Democrats.
“The benefit to our students could be substantial,” McCormick wrote in a recent letter to Shapiro that was shared exclusively with The Center Square.
Farm-state ethanol producers, major oil companies and convenience store owners have formed an unlikely alliance to support permanent year-round sales of E15, a fuel blend of 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline, now allowed from mid-September through May.
Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Center Square Staff
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 70 articles by The Center Square Staff →

Topics

Democratic Microsoft Microsoft 365 Montgomery County the House Communications & Technology Committee

Subjects

Microsoft ORG · 5× Diamond PERSON · 4× Ciresi PERSON · 2× Democratic NORP · 2× Joe Ciresi PERSON · 2× Montgomery County GPE · 2× the House Communications & Technology Committee ORG · 2× Dan Egan PERSON · 1× Department of Administration ORG · 1× House ORG · 1×

Narrative

(The Center Square) - A widespread outage involving Microsoft products online intruded in the work lives of state government employees Thursday into Friday, including a lack of email access by lawmakers for roughly 18 hours.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-15
As chairman of a House committee with jurisdiction on the topic, Ciresi said he would consider calling a hearing with intent of having Microsoft "tell us what the deal was."
2026-11-15 · Just The News
Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours · assertive framing
2026-11-15 · Just The News
Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours · assertive framing

Claims (29 extracted, 4 hedged)

Microsoft outage takes out lawmakers' email for 18 hours " asserted
outage → take → hours
We had no email," said Democratic state Rep. Joe Ciresi of Montgomery County, chairman of the House Communications & Technology Committee. asserted
Ciresi → have → Committee
"As far as I know, the whole state was down. asserted
state → know → ?
(The Center Square) - A widespread outage involving Microsoft products online intruded in the work lives of state government employees Thursday into Friday, including a lack of email access by lawmakers for roughly 18 hours. asserted
outage → involve → hours
"We had no email," said Democratic state Rep. Joe Ciresi of Montgomery County, chairman of the House Communications & Technology Committee. asserted
Ciresi → have → Committee
"As far as I know, the whole state was down." asserted
state → know → ?
Approximately 45 state agencies were impacted by the outage that started Thursday, according to Dan Egan, a spokesman for the state Department of Administration. uncertain
that → impact → Administration
By Friday afternoon, he said, all state employees had regained access to Outlook, Microsoft's email system. asserted
employees → say → Outlook
Ciresi said he had questions about the cause of the incident and why the company explanation disseminated by national media seemed vague. asserted
explanation → say → media
As chairman of a House committee with jurisdiction on the topic, Ciresi said he would consider calling a hearing with intent of having Microsoft "tell us what the deal was." asserted
deal → say → us
Republican Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County agreed that writing the situation off as a major tech glitch was not acceptable. " asserted
writing → agree → glitch
This is the way we communicate with each other in government," Diamond said. asserted
Diamond → communicate → government
Because he relies on a Microsoft calendar product, Diamond said, "I actually had to call my district office after hours to find out what I was doing tomorrow." asserted
I → rely → what
The questions raised by the incident, Diamond said, include, "How vulnerable are we? asserted
we → raise → incident
Should we have redundant systems? asserted
we → have → systems
Should we have systems that are localized and not centralized?" asserted
that → have → systems
Loss of email puts government in a "precarious position," Diamond said. asserted
Diamond → put → position
"Imagine what would happen if we had a weeklong outage." asserted
we → imagine → outage
A series of posts on Thursday on the "Microsoft 365 Status" account on the social media platform X gave updates. asserted
series → give → updates
One said, "We've confirmed the issue may affect Microsoft 365 connectivity for users in any region." uncertain
issue → say → region
Another, posted Friday morning, said, "We're seeing encouraging recovery progress, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected infrastructure." asserted
availability → post → infrastructure
Some autonomous state agencies reported little disruption. asserted
agencies → report → disruption
Steve Chizmar, a spokesman for state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, said the office lost email but continued to be able to access the online meeting program Microsoft Teams. asserted
office → say → program
State finances were not impacted, Chizmar said. asserted
Chizmar → impact → ?
The office of state Auditor General Tim DeFoor similarly did not experience a great impact, according to spokeswoman April Hutcheson. uncertain
office → experience → Hutcheson
Email at the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania went down on Thursday into early Friday morning, according to Executive Director Kyle Kopko. uncertain
Email → go → Kopko
Employees of the association also lost access to calendar functions. asserted
Employees → lose → functions
As a result of the incident, CCAP's technology staff intend to "game out" ways to respond to similar happenings in the future. asserted
staff → intend → future
Kopko said it was possible the organization would install a secondary communications system as a backup. asserted
organization → say → backup
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