I noticed a few minutes ago that I hadn’t received any emails since around 12:45 PM. When I texted the recipient of an email I’d sent to him after I’d not heard from him, he replied that he hadn’t seen my email. I knew I had sent it so, I sent it again. Still nothing.
After rebooting, then hard starting my computer, I couldn’t get Outlook to connect to the server. So I went through the online portal for Outlook and again…..nothing but an error message.
That’s when I started doing some more digging and saw numerous online posts that Microsoft was having issues with numerous servers in the U.S. Hmmmm…… These things happen from time to time, but not across the nation. Via ABC News, Microsoft said the the trouble was from heavy loads on the system, but determined the slow down isn’t due to regular increased traffic. It later said, it is due to a number of servers suddenly being taken offline. That sounds even more ominous. Is something else is going on?
Microsoft says it is rerouting traffic to unaffected servers and has mitigated the issue. However, I’ve been three hours without access to the Outlook server meaning I’m unable to send or receive emails in my Retreat Realty account. Hopefully, this will be remedied very quickly because how many businesses and individuals rely on Outlook to conduct business? Even if this is simply a hardware failure, this goes to show how susceptible our communications infrastructure is to system failures. But what about an intentional cyberattack such as the one that hit France’s largest grocer, or even hit the commissaries at several U.S. military bases in the past two weeks?
All the more reason to be prepared for a sustained power outage or communications disruption. It could happen any time for a variety of reasons, and when it does, you’ll feel the panic rising in your throat. One way to be prepared is to have a bugout property in the mountains of western North Carolina. Contact us today to see if we can help you find that perfect survival property before its too late!