Microsoft outage causes chaos worldwide as people fear Black Sky event

Unless you've spent the past day living under a rock, you'll be more than aware that a major outage has knocked several Microsoft services offline.

First reported as an issue last night, the outage saw people encounter error messages saying that services had been hit by 'connectivity problems' and were unavailable when trying to access platforms such as Outlook, Copilot, and OneDrive.

The outage has caused disruption to hospitals, workplaces and schools, as people are unable to access their emails.

While many people took the unexpected outage as an opportunity to joke about a three-day weekend, others were concerned that we were in the early stages of something more sinister.

Enter the ominous 'black sky event' theory.

What is a 'black sky event'?

A 'black sky event' is a term used to describe a scenario where public infrastructure, including electricity, water and internet connection, collapses nationwide, leading to the population being plunged into darkness.

The phrase has been in the news recently, as the government revealed that contingency plans were in place if such a scenario were to occur, which has led some people to panic that an event may be on the horizon.

So you can see why today's issues with Microsoft caused concern for people.

"Global Microsoft outage to soft launch black sky? I see what’s going on here," read one user's reaction to the outage on X.

"Some WiFi networks down... Microsoft down.... So it begins #BlackSkyEvent," penned a second concerned citizen, while a third added: "Is this the start of #BlackSkyEvent ? #MicrosoftOutage"

Similar discussions have also taken place on Reddit, with one user noting: "This is exactly the kind of event very few people are preparing for. No fires. No riots.

"No loud explosions. Just a slow but inevitable break in communications. Add Google, Apple, Amazon and few others, and modern infrastructures are off limits.

Modern living is attached to a very thin thread."

Is the Microsoft outage a possible 'black sky event'?

While the sudden outage of major communications is concerning, it's time to put the tin foil hats away, as today's Microsoft outage is not the first step in the apocalyptic breakdown of society.

Like other recent technology outages, such as issues with Cloudflare last year, the issue appears to be linked to server outages, which Microsoft is currently in the process of restoring.

Meanwhile, an actual black sky event is more likely to look like a complete blackout of communications and critical infrastructure, leading to people needing to dig out their wind-up radios and stockpiled food supplies.

Major institutions such as the BBC have also been prepared for a mass communications blackout, with the broadcaster having pre-prepared scripts to be read out by employees working from an 'emergency radio studio' which could operate separately from the national power grid for up to three days.

What is the latest update from Microsoft?

Anyone hoping for an extra day away from work or school will be less than pleased to learn that Microsoft services are gradually returning to pre-outage levels.

According to the latest update from the company, Microsoft is seeing 'continued recovery progress across affected regions, with broader improvements now observed in North America and sustained improvements across much of Europe'.

Meanwhile, services in the Asia Pacific region are showing 'encouraging recovery signals', meaning it's back to work for the lot of you.

LADbible Group has approached Microsoft for further comment.