Microsoft Azure Cloud Hit by Disruptions Following Red Sea Cable Cuts
Microsoft has confirmed that its Azure cloud services experienced disruptions over the weekend due to damage to undersea cables in the Red Sea, impacting internet traffic across parts of the Middle East, Asia, and beyond.
The tech giant announced that users of Azure – one of the world’s most widely used cloud computing platforms – may notice slower performance and increased latency as data is rerouted. In a statement posted on its service status page, Microsoft said the disruption was linked to “undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea” but did not specify the cause of the damage.
The company stressed that services operating outside routes passing through the Middle East remain unaffected and confirmed that engineers had taken steps to reroute traffic through alternative pathways to minimize downtime.
Reports of widespread internet disruptions first surfaced on Saturday, with NetBlocks, an organization that tracks internet performance, noting significant connectivity issues in several countries, including India and Pakistan.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) also reported that the cuts occurred near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, warning that users could experience reduced speeds during peak hours.
Undersea cables, often described as the “backbone of the internet,” are responsible for carrying massive amounts of global data. They are vulnerable to accidental damage – such as from ship anchors – but have also been targets of deliberate sabotage in recent years.
This is not the first time cables in the Red Sea have been disrupted. In February 2024, several major cables were severed, causing widespread slowdowns to internet traffic between Asia and Europe. The incident came just weeks after Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused Iran-backed Houthi rebels of planning to sabotage infrastructure in the region. The Houthis denied any involvement.
Similar concerns have been raised in other parts of the world. In the Baltic Sea, several undersea cables and gas pipelines have been damaged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Swedish authorities earlier this year seized a ship suspected of intentionally damaging a cable linking Sweden and Latvia, with prosecutors pointing to possible sabotage.
While investigations into the latest Red Sea cable cuts are ongoing, the disruptions underscore the strategic vulnerability of global internet infrastructure and the ripple effects that localized damage can have on worldwide cloud services.
