The US labour market showed signs of a steady slowdown in October, with job openings increasing moderately and layoffs declining, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday. Job openings, a key indicator of labour demand, rose by 372,000 to 7.744 million at the end of October. However, the September figures were revised downward to 7.372 million from the initially reported 7.443 million. Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated 7.475 million vacancies. Labour Market Dynamics While job openings increased, hires dropped by 269,000 to 5.313 million, and layoffs fell by 169,000 to 1.633 million. These figures suggest a gradual cooling of the labour market rather than a sharp contraction. Hurricanes and strikes also impacted October’s labour market data. Rebuilding efforts in storm-affected regions and the resolution of strikes at Boeing and another aerospace company are expected to contribute to a ...
Microsoft Corp has revealed that a recent outage of its Azure cloud services was the result of a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack.
The DDoS attack, which began early Tuesday, was exacerbated by an error in Microsoft's automated protection systems, which inadvertently worsened the impact instead of mitigating it, according to a status update from the company.
Key Points:
Affected Regions and Services: The attack impacted multiple regions and services running on Azure. For instance, mobile ordering at Starbucks Corp was disabled for hours due to Azure issues, a source said.
Nature of Attack: Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a website with internet traffic, causing disruptions or shutdowns. These attacks are a persistent challenge for financial institutions, causing periodic downtime and requiring extensive efforts from security teams to counteract.
Outage Reports: Reports of outages on Azure and Microsoft 365 began to increase shortly after 7 am in New York, reaching hundreds of complaints at the peak, according to Downdetector. The incident was resolved by about 5 pm in New York.
Microsoft 365 Impact: The outage also affected several Microsoft 365 services and features, including Outlook, Word, and Excel.
Starbucks Recovery: Mobile ordering for Starbucks was largely restored by about 1 pm in New York, with the company working to address ongoing limited interruptions.
Previous Incidents and Response:
Recent Cybersecurity Issues: Earlier in the month, eight million Windows-operated computers crashed following a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. Microsoft has also been dealing with the aftermath of several cyberattacks, prompting a critical report from the US government calling for companywide changes.
Microsoft's Cybersecurity Efforts: Despite the setbacks, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the company's commitment to cybersecurity during a conference call on Tuesday, following the release of quarterly earnings. He highlighted that Microsoft has over 1.2 million security customers and continues to prioritize security.
“We continue to prioritize security above all else,” Nadella stated.
As Microsoft addresses the fallout from the DDoS attack and other recent cybersecurity challenges, it remains committed to enhancing the resilience and reliability of its cloud and productivity services.
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