ATLANTA- Major US carrier, Delta Air Lines (DL) has begun legal action against CrowdStrike, filing a lawsuit (sues) in Georgia over a July software outage that disrupted global operations.
The incident caused 7,000 flight cancellations and impacted millions of computers running Microsoft Windows.
Delta Sues CrowdStrike
The Atlanta-based carrier reports financial losses of $380 million in reduced revenue and $170 million in additional costs, noting slower recovery compared to other affected airlines.
Delta has given the case to prominent attorney David Boies from Boies Schiller Flexner to pursue damages from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft over $500 million.
The lawsuit alleges CrowdStrike’s negligence and contract breach, claiming the security vendor bypassed essential testing protocols for profit. Delta’s legal filing emphasizes that a single pre-deployment test would have revealed the update’s critical flaw.
Delta Air Lines’ complaint details how CrowdStrike’s Falcon software circumvented the airline’s disabled automatic update settings and created unauthorized access within the Windows operating system. The airline seeks compensatory damages, litigation costs, and punitive damages.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian reinforces the company’s position in a recent CNBC interview, demanding full compensation for the operational disruption.
CrowdStrike Executive Remarks
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz issues an apology for the July outage, implementing operational changes to prevent future incidents.
The company adjusted its full-year financial guidance downward in August, reflecting costs associated with customer compensation packages.
CrowdStrike responds forcefully to Delta’s lawsuit, asserting the airline’s claims rely on disproven misinformation.
A company spokesperson criticizes Delta’s understanding of modern cybersecurity practices, suggesting the lawsuit deflects attention from the carrier’s outdated IT infrastructure as the true cause of its prolonged recovery.
Microsoft addresses industry-wide security concerns by hosting a summit in September, engaging CrowdStrike and other endpoint security vendors to discuss potential system improvements.
Delta Air Lines and its partner carriers run over 5,400 flights each day on more than 350 destinations around the world. Such an IT outage disrupts airline operations and reputation.
Following the Crowdstrike outage, the Delta COO, Mike Spanos resigned from his position in September 2024. Spanos who joined Delta in 2023 had previously worked at Six Flags and Pepsi Co.
Due to the impact of the Crowdstrike outage, US DOT launched an investigation against Delta Air Lines to check its compliance with laws and to assess Delta’s customer care efforts.
Delta issued refunds to millions of passengers whose flights were canceled following the disruptions in July 2024.
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