Singapore government services experience email outage amid global Microsoft disruption
The Government Technology Agency said a Microsoft Outlook outage affected some government email systems, but emergency services and Singpass remained operational.
Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech) confirmed that a worldwide Microsoft outage disrupted email services used by several government agencies on Friday, November 13. The outage, which also impacted Microsoft Teams and the AI assistant Copilot, lasted for several hours and affected users' ability to send and receive emails.
"Emergency services remain fully operational and can be reached at 995 and 999 as usual," GovTech said in a statement to CNA, adding that the Singpass identity service was not impacted.
The agency advised the public to check individual agency websites or social media for updates on e-services and warned that email delays could affect response times. It recommended using alternative contact methods, such as call centres, for urgent matters. Public officers were told they could continue to use Microsoft Teams for internal communication.
Microsoft attributed the disruption to an "elevated load" on its infrastructure and said it was "aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact." The company reported partial recovery of services and outlined steps to improve server stability, including adjusting traffic protocols and redistributing traffic.
Local users reported mixed experiences: some could still access SharePoint and Teams, while others faced difficulties with Outlook and Copilot, leading to postponed meetings and workflow adjustments.