Delta hits CrowdStrike with lawsuit over system crash

Delta lawsuit overview:

• Who: Delta Air Lines Inc. filed a lawsuit against CrowdStrike Inc.
• Why: CrowdStrike allegedly forced an untested software update on July 19, 2024, that caused a massive disruption in the airline industry, costing Delta $500 million in lost revenue.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.

A new Delta lawsuit takes aim at CrowdStrike, alleging the cybersecurity firm’s “untested and faulty” software updates caused the airline to cancel thousands of flights and cost it $500 million, Law360 reports.

Delta Air Lines Inc. filed the CrowdStrike lawsuit Oct. 5 in Georgia. Delta says it did not enable automatic software updates, but when CrowdStrike forced the update on July 19, it created a massive outage that created massive flight disruptions.

Delta lawsuit says CrowdStrike failed to test update

Delta claims the CrowdStrike crash was caused by a glitch in the software that caused an outage in millions of devices using the Microsoft operating system.

Airlines, banks, emergency services, hospitals and other businesses were also affected by the CrowdStrike crash, Delta says.

“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 says in its lawsuit. “If CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, the computer would have crashed.”

The airline reportedly told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August, claiming the outage caused roughly 7,000 flights to be canceled.

Delta says the CrowdStrike software update cost it $500 million in lost revenue, but Microsoft and CrowdStrike say the airline was partly to blame for the extended outage.

“Delta’s claims are based on proven disinformation, 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,” a CrowdStrike spokesperson reportedly told Law360.

Delta is already facing at least one class action lawsuit filed by travelers who say they had to pay for alternative flights, meals and rental cars because of Delta’s alleged mishandling of the outage.

Were your travel plans affected by the CrowdStrike crash? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

Delta is represented by David Boies, Hsiao (Mark) C. Mao, James P. Denvir and Michael S. Mitchell of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP; and Frank M. Lowery, Jane “Danny” Vincent and Michael R. Baumrind of Dondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP.

The Delta lawsuit is Delta Air Lines Inc. v. CrowdStrike Inc., in the Superior Court of Fulton County, State of Georgia.

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