A major outage affecting Microsoft services including Outlook emails has drawn parallels to the UK's 'Black Sky event' plans and has sparked calls from preppers to double down on the need to be ready for more internet cut-offs in future.
Outlook email services have been hit with an outage which also stopped other Microsoft services like Teams from working today. The outage, still ongoing, has stopped police from receiving crime reports and has impacted NHS hospitals and schools across the UK which rely on Microsoft services to run.
Impact on public services
The GMB Union has claimed the outage has stopped NHS and ambulance trusts from being able to refer patients on their computer systems, sparking a backlog.
Supermarket giant Asda confirmed in a notice on its website this morning that it is unable to allow new customers to sign up to online shopping or allow existing customers to reset passwords.
The incident, thought to be caused by an issue within Microsoft rather than an attack, has drawn parallels to the UK's 'Black Sky event' plans, which were thrown back into the spotlight this week, after the BBC revealed it has plans in place which dictate what the national broadcaster will do in case of a full-scale UK emergency in which internet and power is lost for three days or more.
BBC emergency plans
The emergency broadcasting service will have secure lines of communication which are not dependent on internet connections and will have enough water, food and fuel to allow it to operate for three days without any further supplies.
The emergency radio will broadcast what households should do in that situation, including how much food and water people should be drinking and even what to do if water supplies are so disrupted that toilets won't flush.
Preppers react
Posting on the UK Preppers Reddit community, users pointed to the Microsoft Outlook outage as prime evidence for the need to prepare for a possibility of a life without the internet.
u/budroid said: "This is exactly the kind of event very few people are preparing for. No fires. No riots. No loud explosions. Just a slow but inevitable break in communications. Add Google, Apple, Amazon and a few others and modern infrastructures are off-limits. Modern living is attached to a very thin thread."
Member u/Calm_Cauliflower8447 said: "For the first time I think having to offline everything is a likely reality."
User u/readonly00 said: "Write down some phone numbers on paper for next time this happens, once you can find them... I'm going to write down phone numbers for work colleagues for example."
u/justmoochingaround added: "I already expect my repeat prescription meds to be delayed and I'm glad I have spare."
u/fantastic_computer47 said: "My daughter is at a school that uses Microsoft products across the board including MS Teams. She couldn't access her lesson timetable this morning so I suspect the school is in organisational chaos today ... it goes far beyond lack of emails!"
Government campaign
The UK's Black Sky plans being made public came after repeated calls from government officials, including Prime Minister Andy Burnham, for the UK to be more prepared for national emergencies such as power cuts, internet and phone blackouts and disruption to food, water or fuel supplies.
Under the new Government campaign, households are being urged to be prepared if everyday services are temporarily disrupted by ensuring they have three days of key supplies.
Households should stockpile at least three days of food and drinking water, according to government advice, and have a battery powered FM radio at home to receive broadcasts such as the BBC's emergency Black Sky event radio station.
Three days of drinking water is roughly three litres per day per person, according to the UK's Be Ready advice.
The Government advice marks the first stage of a three-year campaign which aims to make households feel better prepared for disruptive events, such as severe weather, and comes in the wake of heatwaves, drought and fires that hit the UK during the summer.
The steps advised include checking you have essentials such as three days' worth of food and water as well as checking eligibility and signing up for the priority services register for specific support during outages.
A spokesperson for Iceland told BBC Newsnight: "It's clear consumers have listened to the Government's message as we have seen a 40% increase in sales of tinned products over the weekend and strong sales of bottled water too. Our supplies of these products remain healthy."
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting told the programme: "It's encouraging that people are taking practical steps to be ready. Having a few everyday essentials at home, from tinned food to torches, helps households prepare for disruption, whether that's flooding, power cuts or burst pipes. We can all play our part in making Britain more resilient."
