Microsoft outage hits Czech ministries with emails stalled, Teams disrupted

A Microsoft service outage disrupted email and workplace tools at Czech ministries and Prague Airport on Friday, as users, businesses and public authorities worldwide reported problems.

Microsoft’s Czech branch said there was no indication that a cyberattack or deliberate damage had caused the disruption. Recovery was progressing Friday afternoon, although the company had not announced a full restoration of services.

The affected services globally included Outlook email, the Teams communications platform and Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot.

The Czech finance, education and transport ministries were among the institutions affected. Their reported problems included unavailable or slow email communication and cloud services.

“We regret that the outages have caused difficulties for our customers, and we are working to resolve the problem,” Microsoft spokeswoman Karolína Kříženecká told ČTK.

“At this point, we can confirm that there is no indication of a cyberattack or other intentional damage.”

Microsoft had earlier said its efforts to resolve the disruption were not progressing as expected. By Friday afternoon, however, its Czech spokeswoman reported improvements.

After 3 p.m., Kříženecká said the situation was stabilizing. In a further update after 4 p.m., she said service restoration was continuing successfully, with availability and email delivery gradually improving across more affected systems.

At Václav Havel Airport Prague, the outage primarily affected communication and workplace tools, spokeswoman Denisa Hejtmánková said.

Email, Teams, SharePoint Online and related services were partially restricted, as was access to the airport’s intranet.

The disruption had no impact on airport operations or the functioning of operational and crisis systems, she said.

Czechia’s National Cyber and Information Security Agency, NÚKIB, said it was observing service instability and significantly increased response times rather than prolonged outages in the country.

Spokesman Jakub Neščiva described the incident as another tangible illustration of how heavily organizations depend on technology and its suppliers.

The agency said such disruptions underline the importance of business continuity, backups and preparation for situations in which essential external services become unavailable.

Its comments addressed organizational preparedness rather than identifying a cause for Friday’s disruption.

Microsoft’s statement that there was no indication of deliberate interference likewise did not establish what had caused the outage. The company said it would share further information when available.

For affected Czech institutions, the latest afternoon update pointed to improving access and email delivery, with recovery still underway.