NACSA Confirms Global Microsoft 365 Outage is Not a Cyberattack, Urges M’sian Agencies to Stay Vigilant

Following the massive global Microsoft 365 outage that disrupted productivity tools like Outlook and Teams for tens of thousands of users worldwide, Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) has stepped forward to ease public concern.

The agency has officially confirmed on Facebook that the widespread technical glitch is not a cyberattack, urging government agencies and critical infrastructure operators to remain calm and avoid spreading speculation.

“Please be informed that Microsoft is currently experiencing service disruptions involving Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Defender XDR, which have the potential to affect users worldwide, including in Malaysia.
Based on current information, this disruption is more likely caused by technical or infrastructure issues rather than a cyberattack.
In this regard, all government agencies and National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) entities are advised to check the status of affected services, ensure that cybersecurity monitoring remains uninterrupted, and monitor the latest developments from Microsoft.
Any disruptions affecting organisational operations should be reported through existing reporting channels.” NACSA wrote in their statement.

NACSA issues advisory: Not a cyber incident

In the official advisory released today (13 November 2026), NACSA said that preliminary information confirms the disruption stems from technical and infrastructure issues rather than malicious interference.

According to Microsoft Service Health Status updates, the global glitch was triggered by traffic management imbalances and server availability strain across Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.

While core productivity apps such as Outlook, Exchange Online, Teams calendars, Copilot, Planner, Intune, and admin portals experienced disruptions, services like MS Teams and SharePoint have already begun seeing recovery.

Despite confirming that security is not compromised, NACSA has issued a strong advisory to all government agencies and National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) entities to take precautionary steps:

• Check official statuses: Monitor service availability through official channels like status.cloud.microsoft rather than relying on unverified sources.
• Maintain cyber monitoring: Ensure that cybersecurity monitoring systems remain fully active and uninterrupted.
• Report disruptions: Channel any operational impacts through standard organisational reporting frameworks.

Beware of opportunistic phishing scams during tech outages

Authorities also issued an urgent warning to the public and IT administrators regarding opportunists attempting to exploit the tech crisis.

During major outages, scammers often launch phishing campaigns taking advantage of user confusion. NACSA and CyberSecurity Malaysia have flagged common scam tactics to watch out for during this period:

• Fake prompts asking users to re-login to their “Microsoft” accounts.
• Suspicious links claiming to offer “account recovery” or “emergency security updates”.
• Scam calls pretending to be “Microsoft technical support”.

Organisations are advised to practice four key safety steps: activate Business Continuity Plans (BCP) if necessary, avoid clicking unverified recovery links, rely solely on official channels, and report any suspicious cyber incidents immediately to Cyber999 via hotline at 1-300-88-2999 or email at ym.ytirucesrebycobfsctd-736f34@999rebyc.

Did your organisation’s workflow get affected by yesterday’s global Microsoft outage? Let us know in the comments below!

Also read: Not Just Data Theft: NACSA Warns Cybercriminals Could Target M’sia’s Water, Electricity & Healthcare Systems

Source: National Cyber Security Agency, Malaysia | Facebook
Source: Berita Harian