Delta Air Lines recently took legal action against CrowdStrike, a security software vendor, in Georgia. The airline giant accused CrowdStrike of breach of contract and negligence following a significant outage in July that impacted millions of computers and led to the cancellation of 7,000 flights. Delta, based in Atlanta, reported that it experienced more challenges recovering from the incident compared to other airlines, resulting in a revenue loss of $380 million and $170 million in costs.
The root cause of the IT outage was identified as a flawed software update that affected computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Delta responded to the situation by retaining the services of David Boies from the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to pursue damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. The airline sought compensation to cover its financial losses, litigation expenses, and punitive damages.
In its complaint, Delta asserted that CrowdStrike’s negligence and failure to adhere to proper testing and certification processes had catastrophic consequences. The airline claimed that the software update, which should not have been able to reach its computers due to automatic updates being disabled, exploited an unauthorized opening in Windows. Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, expressed the airline’s determination to seek full compensation for the havoc caused by the incident.
While Delta is seeking restitution for the damages incurred, CrowdStrike has expressed regret for the outage and committed to implementing changes in its procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future. The company’s CEO, George Kurtz, issued an apology, and CrowdStrike adjusted its full-year guidance due to a customer commitment package linked to the outage.
Following the incident, Microsoft engaged in discussions with CrowdStrike and other endpoint security software vendors during a summit in September to explore potential enhancements to prevent similar disruptions in the future. Despite the challenges faced by Delta as a result of the IT outage, the airline remains focused on recovering from the financial impact and ensuring that measures are in place to prevent such incidents from recurring.
