Microsoft 365 Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Shows

General view of Microsoft Corporation headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, France, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
General view of Microsoft Corporation headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, France, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
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Microsoft 365 Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Shows

General view of Microsoft Corporation headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, France, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
General view of Microsoft Corporation headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, France, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

Microsoft's (MSFT.O), suite of productivity software was down for more than 16,000 users on Thursday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

This comes nearly two months after a faulty software update from cybersecurity services provider CrowdStrike (CRWD.O), affected nearly 8.5 million Windows devices, crippling operations across industries ranging from airlines and banks to healthcare, according to Reuters.

"We're investigating an issue where users may be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services," the Windows parent said in a post on X.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to queries on the nature and cause of the outage and when it expects a recovery, but its Azure cloud platform said on X it was probing customer reports of a potential issue connecting Microsoft's services from AT&T (T.N), networks.

The telecom operator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the incident reports peaked at around 23,000 for Microsoft 365, there were signs of the issues ebbing. Some users on social media said Microsoft's services were up and running.

About 4,000 users reported issues with AT&T services and more than 16,500 said they had trouble accessing Microsoft's 365 products, as of 9:12 A.M. ET, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform.



Nvidia Reiterates Its Chips Have No Backdoors, Urges US Against Location Verification 

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
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Nvidia Reiterates Its Chips Have No Backdoors, Urges US Against Location Verification 

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)

Nvidia has published a blog post reiterating that its chips did not have backdoors or kill switches and appealed to US policymakers to forgo such ideas saying it would be a "gift" to hackers and hostile actors.

The blog post, which was published on Tuesday in both English and Chinese, comes a week after the Chinese government summoned the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant to a meeting saying it was concerned by a US proposal for advanced chips sold abroad to be equipped with tracking and positioning functions.

The White House and both houses of US Congress have proposed the idea of requiring US chip firms to include location verification technology with their chips to prevent them from being diverted to countries where US export laws ban sales.

The separate bills and White House recommendation have not become a formal rule, and no technical requirements have been established.

"Embedding backdoors and kill switches into chips would be a gift to hackers and hostile actors. It would undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology," Nvidia said.

It had said last week its products have no backdoors that would allow remote access or control.

A backdoor refers to a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls.

Nvidia emphasized that "there is no such thing as a 'good' secret backdoor - only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated."