Expired SSL cert causes Microsoft Azure storage outage

An expired certificate put the kibosh on secure encryption on Microsoft's Windows Azure storage worldwide over the weekend.

"Storage is currently experiencing a worldwide outage impacting HTTPS operations (SSL traffic) due to an expired certificate. HTTP traffic is not impacted.

"We are validating the recovery options before implementing them. Further updates will be published to keep you apprised of the situation. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes our customers," the Azure team told users.

As of writing, the fault is ongoing with no estimated time for the fix on the Azure Service Dashboard.

Microsoft confirmed the outage via its Office 365 Twitter account.

Windows Azure Storage affected by an expired certificate. We're working to restore ASAP and apologize for the inconvenience.

— Office 365 (@Office365) February 23, 2013

Cloud storage for Xbox Live was also affected, Microsoft said, with users experiencing difficulties with accessing saved games and data in cloud storage.

In March last year, Microsoft was forced to issue a third discount for Azure customers for a month after its certificate creation process failed three times on February 29, the leap day.