Microsoft Cloud Outage Disrupts Scottish Government and Public Services

The Scottish Government activated its resilience operations on Friday to assess the impact of a global Microsoft Cloud Services outage that began late Thursday. The disruption affected corporate systems and email access across various public sectors, including NHS Grampian and several local authorities such as the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, and Scottish Borders councils.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray stated that while corporate systems were impacted, the government remained operational and business continued. Police Scotland reported that the outage disabled its online contact forms, leading affected agencies to urge the public to use telephone lines for urgent communication.

Microsoft reported early signs of stabilization by Friday. However, the company cautioned that service capacity had not yet returned to normal levels and health remained variable as traffic was carefully reintroduced.