Fixed: Spam that deluged users of Outlook and Hotmail
MICROSOFT has fixed a fault with its Outlook and Hotmail spam filters that saw users across the globe inundated with spam emails.
Microsoft confirmed the problem with a vague message on its Service Status page: “Some users may be receiving excessive spam mail.”
The company has since issued an update claiming that the problem is solved: “We’ve implemented the fixes throughout the affected infrastructure, which has mitigated impact.”
Microsoft explained that it took a two-pronged approach. “We’re implementing two fixes. One will provide short-term relief preventing spam reaching your inbox. The second will be a longer-term fix which should stop spam reaching our infrastructure,” the firm said.
The flood of spam did not go down well with Microsoft’s email customers, and the problem appears to be persisting for some.
Wrote one exasperated Outlook user: “What is happening? My hotmail is drowning in SPAM. The inbox I mean.”
Another Outlook user wrote on Reddit: “Just came here to ask a question about this! I use this email for work and got 18 emails last night and all but two of them were junk. Hope it gets fixed soon.”
Others saw the funny side: “Look at all of these great deals I’ve been missing out on for years!!! Now if you chaps will excuse me, I’m off to become an erect millionaire getting a great deal on my car insurance with my new Russian bride at the casino with my free bets.”
Microsoft is currently in the middle of migrating all its email servers to the Office 365 cloud, which may be one possible cause.
The firm has had several outages over the past few months. A major European outage on Office 365 affected customers earlier this year.