Some legitimate emails sent to Hotmail, Outlook.com, Live and MSN addresses are being rejected with email security errors. Reports began on 6 November 2026, and delivery can be intermittent.
These reports concern delivery to Microsoft's personal email addresses, not all Microsoft 365 business mailboxes. Other delivery problems can have different causes.
The errors mention authentication checks such as SPF, which helps receiving services verify that an email comes from an authorised sender. Some senders report rejections even when their settings are correct.
This is outside iHelp IT's control
Where Microsoft's receiving systems incorrectly reject legitimate messages, iHelp IT cannot fix the issue or force delivery. Resolution requires Microsoft to correct its service—not changes to your computer.
Microsoft has reportedly been made aware of the problem, but there is no publicly confirmed fix timeframe at the time of writing.
What should you do?
Retry bounced messages the next day. Delivery may still be affected until the issue is resolved.
Don't change your email security settings to work around the issue.
Updated 6 November 2026.
The iHelp IT team
