Legal battle between Delta, CrowdStrike heats up with matching lawsuits over outage
ATLANTA - The legal battle between Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has escalated after both companies filed competing lawsuits against each other.
On Friday, Delta sued CrowdStrike, claiming the cybersecurity company had cut corners and caused a worldwide technology outage that led to thousands of canceled flights in July.
The airline is asking for compensation and punitive damages from the outage, which started with a faulty update sent to several million Microsoft computers. Delta said the outage crippled its operations for several days, costing more than $500 million in lost revenue and extra expenses.
In its lawsuit, Delta claims that the outage occurred because CrowdStrike failed to test the update before rolling it out worldwide.
After multiple cancelled flights to Washington D.C., Delta Air Lines passengers Patty (L) and Alice Crump get ticketing assistance from an agent at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on July 22, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jess
"CrowdStrike caused a global catastrophe because it cut corners, took shortcuts, and circumvented the very testing and certification processes it advertised, for its own benefit and profit," Delta said in the lawsuit, which was filed in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia, near the company’s headquarters.
According to Reuters, CrowdStrike has fired back with its own lawsuit, filing the response in U.S. District Court in Georgia.
A spokesperson for the company said Delta’s claims are based on "misinformation, demonstrate a lack of understanding of how modern cybersecurity works, and reflect a desperate attempt to shift blame for its slow recovery away from its failure to modernize its antiquated IT infrastructure."
Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft have said Delta had turned down their offers to help the airline recover from the outage last month. Microsoft’s lawyer said CEO Satya Nadella emailed Bastian during the outage, but the Delta CEO never replied.
CrowdStrike is seeking a declaratory judgment and legal fees, Reuters reported.
Federal government investigating Delta's CrowdStrike outage
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating why Delta failed to recover as quickly as other airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in July that the department would also examine Delta’s customer service, including "unacceptable" lines for assistance and reports that unaccompanied minors were stranded at airports.
MORE: Delta meltdown: Buttigieg says more than 3,000 complaints filed since DOT probe launched
On July 25, Buttigieg told FOX 5's Tyler Fingert that the agency had received more than 3,000 complaints from Delta passengers.
"When there is a disruption, you need to be able to get a hold of a customer service agent who can help you, someone who can make sure you get the vouchers for meals, hotels, rebooking, that kind of thing, and somebody who can get you on your way," Secretary Buttigieg said. "So, when we hear these reports of somebody having to wait in line for 8 hours to speak to somebody on the phone, people sleeping on the floor in airports because they weren't able to get accommodated or taken care of, that's a major concern and that's going to be a big focus of our investigation."
In August, a group of passengers filed a class action lawsuit against Delta over the airline's response to the outage.