Microsoft outage exposes Aussie data to huge risk

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Massive amounts of potentially sensitive data may have bypassed security arrangements during a 24-hour Microsoft outage, a peak cyber security body says.

Australia's peak cyber security body fears an enormous amount of sensitive information may have bypassed normal security walls during a day-long Microsoft outage.

Global disruption of the company's Outlook and Teams finally eased on Saturday after about 24 hours of chaos that crippled online communications.

The mass outage forced some organisations to revert to fax and halted at least one European bond repurchase.

Described as a disaster for the Australian business sector, it has deepened questions about global reliance on a handful of major tech companies supplying essential software and the cloud infrastructure underpinning it.

The Australian Information Security Association said organisations scrambling to keep working during the outage using personal email accounts, USB drives and other alternative platforms may have caused a major cybersecurity risk.

"When people can't access the systems they rely on, they find ways to keep working," AISA Board Director Dr Rajiv Shah said.

"Given the massive number of organisations affected around the world, we could be looking at an enormous amount of information that has moved outside normal security arrangements in a single day.

"Getting email and Teams working again doesn't mean the job is finished.

"We need to understand how much additional cyber risk has been created."

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