News · eGov
The Government Technology Agency of Singapore confirmed full restoration of Microsoft Outlook services for government agencies after a global disruption that lasted over 24 hours and affected 74 countries and territories.
✦ AI SUMMARY 30-second read
- GovTech confirmed Microsoft Outlook was fully restored for Singapore Government agencies from 11pm on 13 November.
- The outage, caused by a network capacity upgrade issue, affected 74 countries and logged over 7.4 million reports worldwide.
- Emergency services, Singpass and core banking services remained fully operational throughout the disruption.
Why it matters: A single cloud platform outage lasting over 24 hours disrupted government email, banking and institutional services across 74 countries simultaneously.
This summary was generated by AI. Editors may review and update it.
The Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) announced on 14 November that Microsoft Outlook services for the Singapore Government had been fully restored since 11pm on 13 November, following one of the longest disruptions in Microsoft's history.
The outage, which began around 1.25am Singapore time on 13 November, lasted over 24 hours and affected 74 countries and territories. An outage tracker logged over 7.4 million reports worldwide, with reports peaking at almost 20,000 a minute — over 1,500 times the normal level.
Microsoft confirmed that consumer services were fully recovered as of 4.10pm UTC on 13 November. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company was 'deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners'.
What caused the outage
GovTech stated clearly that the disruption was not the result of a cyber attack or activity involving AI or agents. The agency attributed the incident to an issue arising during an earlier network capacity upgrade, which surfaced following a subsequent network change.
This was described as the second disruption of Microsoft services in the current year and one of the longest recorded in the company's history.
Impact on Singapore agencies and institutions
Several Singapore government organisations, including the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Singapore Land Authority, SingHealth and the Singapore Police Force, announced on social media that their email services had been restored late on 13 November and into the following day.
On the afternoon of 14 November, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Customs confirmed the resumption of their FormSG submission service, a government tool that allows public officers to create secure digital forms for data collection.
Banks including DBS, UOB and Maybank also reported email disruptions and subsequently announced the resumption of their email services on social media. Core banking services were unaffected throughout. Educational institutions similarly experienced email disruptions.
What remained operational
GovTech noted that emergency services remained fully operational during the outage. Singpass, the national digital identity platform, was also unaffected.
The agency thanked members of the public for their patience and understanding during the period of disruption.