Microsoft outage impacts small and medium HK businesses

A number of small and medium businesses in the city having been affected by Microsoft's global outage.

This as some in the innovation sector remind local businesses to better prepare for such scenarios, and urge the community to be on the look out for phishing scams during this period.

Usually a link would appear.

But it doesn't work today.

This project consultation firm said its staff discovered the Microsoft system was malfunctioning this morning, and were unable to use the Teams platform for their conference nor access their emails.

The manager noted the company would audit different businesses and perform inspection work on various factories.

He added each client would be given their own designated email account, stressing the latest outage is having a significant impact on the company's operations.

The manager said failing to check certain emails could result in his firm missing out on key opportunities and obstruct ongoing projects.

HKEX similarly reported issues with its email services owing to the outage, while the market was relatively unaffected.

This as some lawmakers in the innovative sector said the incident involved an issue with Microsoft's internal server, while reminding local businesses to better prepare for such scenarios.

Lawmaker Duncan Chiu from the Technology and Innovation constituency said hackers could make use of the outage to engage in phishing attacks.

He warned that criminals could disguise themselves as Microsoft tech support and install malware in their victims' devices to steal confidential information.

Chiu emphasised those receiving relevant messages should verify the information on Microsoft's official website.