Tech expert reveals potential cause of Microsoft outage as essential systems affected worldwide

A tech expert has suggested a possible ‘mundane explanation’ behind the Microsoft outage, as the company works to ‘aggressively pursue all pathways to reduce impact’.

Thousands of people have been left unable to access key Microsoft services amid a major outage, disrupting everything from workplace operations to everyday tasks, as the company scrambles to get systems back up and running.

And while the tech giant has yet to identify the root cause of the outage, Mahmoud Elkhodr, a Senior Lecturer in Information and Communication Technologies at CQUniversity Australia, has outlined one possible explanation for the disruption.

So far, no evidence of malicious activity has been found, as Microsoft claimed: "There’s no indication this is a cyber attack."

Instead, 'the more mundane explanation fits better', Elkhodr said, writing for the Independent.

The tech company, headed up by Satya Nadella, continue to work to get the services back up and running. (Getty Stock Images)

He explained: "Outages of this scale are more often self-inflicted in this way than they are the work of attackers, as the August disruption to Microsoft email by a code update illustrates."

The expert further noted that 'health checks' are designed to protect services by taking malfunctioning servers offline.

However, if the system responsible for identifying problems is itself faulty, functioning servers could also be taken out of action, leaving the remaining ones struggling to cope with more demand than they were built to handle.

In their most recent update on X, Microsoft said: "We’ve made additional progress toward recovery, with actions now completed across portions of affected infrastructure and traffic being gradually restored.

"We’re seeing improvements in key scenarios, including mailbox access and delayed email processing, though some intermittent issues may continue."

The company continues to keep its users in the loop with updates. (Mladen ANTONOV / AFP via Getty Images)

They added: "Our focus is extending these recovery actions across remaining affected infrastructure while continuing stabilization and adding capacity to improve consistency."

However, as Microsoft works to resolve the major disruption, workers around the world have been jokingly encouraging the company to 'take its time', welcoming an unexpected break from their overflowing inboxes and work demands.

"Me Pretending to be upset that Microsoft Outlook is down," one user joked.

As another added: "Everyone in corporate America right now with nothing to do in the office during the Microsoft Outlook outage."

A third said: "Microsoft is down so they sent us all home early from work."

The industries most likely to feel the impact of the outage include sectors such as finance, healthcare, education, retail and transport, where employees depend on Microsoft tools to communicate, access important files and keep daily operations running.