Microsoft IT outage live: Total recovery from CloudStrike failure ‘could take weeks’ amid more flight delays

IT experts warn it could take weeks for global tech infrastructure to fully recover after a botched software update brought down systems worldwide.

The massive disruption to Microsoft systems has included flight delays and cancellations , as well as impacting hospitals, banks, supermarkets and millions of businesses.

Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned it could take "weeks" for all computers and systems to be fully restored. “In some cases, the fix may be applied very quickly,” he said. “But if computers have reacted in a way that means they’re getting into blue screens... that could take days and weeks.”

The chief executive of CrowdStrike , a cybersecurity company whose update crashed Microsoft Windows systems, said he was “deeply sorry”.

George Kurtz said it was not “a security incident or cyber attack”, and that a defect was found in a “single content update for Windows hosts”.

More than 5,078 flights , 4.6 per cent of those scheduled, were cancelled globally on Friday, including 167 UK departures with knock-on effects to last into the weekend.