Delta Airlines Slams CrowdStrike, Claims $500 Million Loss Due to Outage

• Delta Airlines accused CrowdStrike of “negligence” in a recent letter, claiming the cybersecurity firm’s software update caused a massive outage that led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and a loss of at least $500 million (£392 million).
• In response, CrowdStrike denied sole responsibility for the disruptions, noting that Delta continued to face issues even after other airlines had recovered. The incident has led to a class-action lawsuit against Delta by affected passengers.

Delta Airlines has voiced its frustration with CrowdStrike in a new letter issued on Thursday, as the two companies continue to exchange blame following last month’s significant global network outage.

The U.S.-based airline accused the cybersecurity firm of “negligence,” claiming that the outage forced it to cancel thousands of flights and resulted in a loss of at least $500 million (£392 million).

CrowdStrike, however, has denied being solely responsible for Delta’s flight disruptions, noting that Delta continued to face issues even after other airlines had resumed normal operations.

As a result of the chaos, Delta is now facing a class-action lawsuit filed by passengers who were affected by the cancellations.

The global outage was triggered on July 19 by a corrupted software update sent out by CrowdStrike to its large customer base. Microsoft has estimated that around 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide were disabled because of the issue.

Delta Airlines was particularly hard-hit, with its services impacted for days after the outage, even as other airlines appeared to have recovered. The airline was forced to cancel approximately 7,000 flights over five days until July 24, leading to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In response, Delta has blamed both CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the disruptions and has threatened legal action against the two companies. However, both companies have rejected Delta’s claims of responsibility.

Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian wrote in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that what happened was “unacceptable”.

“Our customers and employees deserve better,” Mr Bastian wrote, adding that the technology meltdown affected 1.3 million of Delta’s customers.

CrowdStrike said on Sunday that it would defend itself “aggressively” should Delta take legal action against it.

Microsoft also responded, indicating that its preliminary review showed Delta, unlike its competitors, was operating with outdated IT infrastructure.

In response, David Boies, an attorney representing Delta, wrote in a letter to CrowdStrike on Thursday that “there is no basis – none – to suggest that Delta was in any way responsible for the faulty software that crashed systems around the world”.

He added that Delta had invested billions of dollars in its technology and struggled to restore operations due to its reliance on Microsoft and CrowdStrike.

A spokesperson for CrowdStrike responded by accusing Delta of pushing “a misleading narrative.”

Many airlines, including Delta, rely on Microsoft’s Office365 for scheduling. The CrowdStrike outage had crashed these systems, forcing airlines to revert to manual scheduling.

Additionally, CrowdStrike has been sued by its shareholders, who accuse the company of making “false and misleading” statements about its software testing. CrowdStrike has denied these allegations.

Source: BBC News