Global Microsoft outage affecting NI schools, councils and other services
Getty ImagesSchools, councils and other organisations across Northern Ireland are among those impacted by a global Microsoft outage.
Problems with the software giant started on Thursday, with monitoring website Downdetector seeing problems reported in more than 70 countries.
Microsoft has said it's seeing "early signs of stabilisation", but services haven't "yet returned to normal". Earlier, it said the issue wasn't caused by a cyber-security breach.
Public bodies such as the Education Authority said on Friday: "Outlook is currently unavailable to NI schools and the Education Authority. Emails cannot currently be sent or received."
Who's been affected?
The South Eastern Health Trust said there will be "no impact on clinical services".
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said that patient services are not impacted by the outage.
Some councils in Northern Ireland have said that their emails systems have been impacted.
Belfast City Council said it is experiencing issues "receiving and responding" to emails.
"Our website and phone lines are operating as normal however, and customers can still log requests."
In a statement Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council said they are aware of the "ongoing global disruption" and will share "further updates if necessary".
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council confirmed they have been impacted and said the majority of council services are unaffected however there is disruption to staff's ability to send and receive emails.
Queen's University Belfast also said they are experiencing email disruption on Friday.
"Our students and staff are currently unable to receive or send emails and may experience difficulties accessing.
"As always, staff and students should not use personal email accounts to send, receive or store university-related communications or information."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland have issued a statement to say its services are unaffected.
What do we know has happened?
Microsoft 365 Services, including Teams, Outlook and Microsoft's artificial intelligence software Copilot, have been affected by "connectivity problems".
Customers are reporting varying levels of access - many have not been able to send or receive emails, view certain files or details on their calendar apps.
Some users have been able to use Teams and are using messaging and online meeting functions without issues.
More than 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps according to Microsoft's website.
The full scale of the outage has not been confirmed, but monitoring website Downdetector had 140,000 people from 74 countries report issues with Outlook on Thursday evening.
The real figure affected is likely much higher because Downdetector relies primarily on users self-reporting.
Microsoft 365 is also used by companies worldwide and is expected to have a knock-on effect to other services.