Delta Air Lines suing CrowdStrike following glitch that caused massive meltdown over summer

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that it has filed a complaint against CrowdStrike, the source of the massive internet outage in July that caused thousands of flight delays and cancelations for the company.

In a statement, Delta said:

“CrowdStrike committed a series of intentional and grossly negligent acts that caused the global IT outage on July 19, impacting 8.5 million computers.

“While CrowdStrike has sought to characterize its actions as simple learning opportunities, the reality is CrowdStrike took shortcuts, circumvented certifications, and intentionally created and exploited an unauthorized door within the Microsoft operating system through which it deployed the faulty update.

“CrowdStrike has also conceded it failed to adhere to even basic industry-standard practices for IT updates, such as conducting a phased rollout and providing rollback capabilities. In fact, if CrowdStrike had tested this on even a single computer, that computer would have crashed.”

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While Delta did not specify an amount that it is seeking in the complaint, the court documents say, “Delta estimates that it suffered over $500 million in out-of-pocket losses from the Faulty Update, in addition to future revenue and severe harm to its reputation and goodwill.”

“In the aftermath of the Faulty Update, CrowdStrike conceded it did not subject its programming and data changes to even the most basic tests, and that it did not roll out the Faulty Update in staged deployments to customers commensurate with standard software development practices,” the complaint goes on to say.

CrowdStrike sent Channel 2 Action News a statement, saying:

“While we aimed to reach a business resolution that puts customers first, Delta has chosen a different path. Delta’s claims are based on disproven 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.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating why Delta took longer to recover than other airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department would also look into complaints about Delta’s customer service, including long waits for help and reports that unaccompanied minors were stranded at airports.

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