Microsoft was forced to apologize on Thursday after implementing a change that saw customers around the globe unable to access its services. Credit: Microsoft / Just_Super / Getty Images Some Microsoft customers were unable to access the company’s Azure and Microsoft 365 services on Thursday due to an issue with Microsoft’s geolocation services. Just after 12 p.m. GMT, the Microsoft 365 Status Twitter account posted a tweet alerting customers to the fact that it was “investigating an issue where users with specific conditional access policies applied may be unable to access any Microsoft 365 service,” adding that Microsoft was attempting to reverse a recent change in order to mitigate the impact. As a result of the change, some users who had an IP-based conditional access policy experienced sign-in issues, as Microsoft’s geolocation service was inadvertently showing traffic was originating from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, rather than the genuine country of origin. “Not cool. Sending US-based traffic to Uzbekistan is unacceptable on many levels,” Twitter user @brianwilson said in a tweet, along with screenshots of traffic being routed to Toshkent (the local name for Tashkent). “Second time this MONTH this has happened. Earlier this month Azure AD was reporting some of our users as being in India; today it’s reporting some are in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (myself included). We are 100% based in Canada!” Andy Matthews, an impacted customer, said in a tweet. Although the issue was ultimately resolved about eight hours later, several replies to Microsoft’s initial tweet suggested the problem had started many hours before the company first took to social media to alert its customers. This is not the first time this year Microsoft customers have been left unable to access the company’s services. At the end of January, Microsoft implemented a network change that saw customers across the globe unable to access its collaboration suite Teams and email service Outlook, as well as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business. Less than two weeks later, customers once again reported having issues accessing Teams and Outlook. Related content feature Windows 11: A guide to the updates Here’s what you need to know about the latest updates to Windows 11 as they’re released from Microsoft. Now updated for KB506980 Preview, released on April 23, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 25, 2024 59 mins Small and Medium Business Windows 11 Windows feature Windows 10: A guide to the updates Here's what you need to know about each update to the current version of Windows 10 as it's released from Microsoft. Now updated for KB5036979 Preview, released on April 23, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 25, 2024 172 mins Small and Medium Business Windows 10 Microsoft opinion The end of non-compete agreements is a tech job earthquake The FTC ruled this week that companies can no longer use non-compete agreements to stop workers from moving from one job to another — and businesses are having fits. By Steven Vaughan-Nichols Apr 25, 2024 5 mins Regulation Government IT Jobs news Meta opens its mixed-reality Horizon OS to other headset makers Lenovo and Asus are among the companies building headsets that run Horizon software. The move expands Meta’s reach in the AR/VR market, while enabling headset vendors to focus on hardware development rather than software. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 24, 2024 6 mins Augmented Reality Google Virtual Reality Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe