Some Singapore government systems affected by Microsoft outage; no impact on Singpass: GovTech

[SINGAPORE] E-mail services across some Singapore government agencies, major banks and the courts were disrupted on Friday (Nov 13) amid a global Microsoft outage affecting thousands of users.

In response to media queries on Friday, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) confirmed that some government systems were hit by the disruption, adding that it is working with the tech giant to restore the affected services.

While public officers can still use Microsoft Teams internally, e-mail disruptions may delay replies to public inquiries, said a GovTech spokesperson.

Emergency services remain fully operational and can be reached on 995 and 999 as usual, while Singpass is not affected, the spokesperson said.

GovTech advised the public to contact the respective government agencies’ call centres for urgent matters and check their official websites or social media channels for updates on e-services.

More updates will be provided when information is available, the spokesperson added.

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The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore warned taxpayers on social media platform X at about 9.30 am of difficulties sending e-mails, directing them to Live Chat or myTax Mail on the myTax Portal instead.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority, Health Sciences Authority and Singapore Land Authority were also among statutory boards that flagged potential delays for incoming and outgoing e-mails. 

They advised the public to contact them via their other channels, including their phone lines, or submit requests online instead.

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The Singapore Courts noted in a Facebook post at 12.15 pm that the disruption could affect incoming court application requests and replies to e-mail queries.

Online court filing systems and their automated e-mail alerts remain operational, and those with urgent matters can call 6587-8423, the Courts said.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirmed that the digital SG arrival card is unaffected.

However, ICA noted in a Facebook post at 1.30 pm that responses to some services submitted via FormSG may be delayed owing to the outage, advising those needing urgent assistance to use the ICA Feedback Form or call 6391-6100.

FormSG is a government tool that allows public officers to create secure digital forms for data collection.

The Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health said they were experiencing disruptions to e-mail services in separate social media notices in the afternoon.

Public healthcare cluster SingHealth also said in a Facebook post at about 4.15 pm that Microsoft service disruptions could delay its e-mail responses.

Several town councils – Pasir Ris-Changi, Tanjong Pagar, Nee Soon and Tampines – reported varying issues across their e-mail, online feedback and call centre services.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for defence and engineering group ST Engineering confirmed its operations were unaffected.

In a media reply, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said that the operational systems and readiness of the ministry and the Singapore Armed Forces were not affected by the outage.

Financial institutions hit by e-mail delays

Banks here also reported e-mail disruptions, though core banking operations were unaffected.

UOB reported e-mail connectivity issues at 10am, while DBS Bank warned on its website of delayed e-mail replies, advising customers to check transaction push notifications via the DBS/POSB digibank app instead.

Maybank Singapore said in a Facebook post at around 12.40 pm that all its digital and physical banking services remain safe and operational, though e-mails may be delayed, and directed customers to its digital channels, ATMs and self-service terminals.

In a 3.10 pm Facebook update, DBS added that transactions via its ATMs, cards, and the digibank and PayLah apps remain unaffected.

The global Microsoft outage also disrupted the e-mail system of financial services group PhillipCapital, the firm said in a social media post at about 1 pm.

Microsoft working to improve server stability

Microsoft services remain disrupted for thousands of users globally, with outage tracker Downdetector logging reports from Singapore users facing issues with Microsoft 365, Outlook and Teams on the morning of Friday.

On Downdetector, reports of Microsoft Outlook issues peaked at 1128 at about 9.10 am in Singapore, before falling to 679 at 2.10 pm.

Microsoft said in an update on its service health status webpage at 1.46 pm that it is pursuing multiple workstreams to pinpoint the cause of a traffic influx and repair affected backend infrastructure.

“We’re taking a measured approach to identify and repair affected infrastructure to improve the ability to confirm the developed changes were applied. We’re tracking the results of this approach to verify the servers are showing the anticipated recovery and performance intended,” it said.

Microsoft reiterated that there was no indication of malicious activity behind the incident, adding that it will release full details of the root cause in a post-incident report. THE STRAITS TIMES