Microsoft outage hits Hotmail, Outlook, Skype users

Users of Hotmail, Outlook and Skype were finding themselves locked out of their accounts on Tuesday afternoon, as Microsoft appeared to be suffering a serious outage on its systems.

The Washington-based company confirmed it was dealing with issues in its authentication system.

Reports from users said that, upon attempting to access their account, they were met with a message that their password was wrong or that their account did not even exist.

A number of customers took their complaints to social media, with a number of users on Twitter even claiming the Xbox Live online gaming service had been hit.

“We are aware of reports that some users are having difficulty signing in to some services,” Microsoft said in a statement.

“We are investigating this issue.”

Some users had reported that the issue was resolved for them by mid afternoon, although others said it was still persistent.