Delta Air Lines Has been sued Internet security company mass strike After screwing up Software updates Caused millions of Microsoft Windows computers to crash, causing massive damage Flight canceled worldwide. The U.S.-based airline said the July outage disrupted the travel plans of 1.3 million passengers and cost the airline more than $500 million.
According to Reuters, Delta Air Lines said CrowdStrike was liable for more than $500 million in out-of-pocket costs as well as an unspecified amount of lost profits, expenses (including legal fees) and “reputational damage and loss of future revenue.”
What Delta alleges in lawsuit
Delta’s lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, calls CrowdStrike’s erroneous software update “catastrophic” and says the company “forced an untested erroneous update on customers, resulting in the loss of more than 8.5 million units worldwide based on Microsoft Windows computer crashes”.
“If CrowdStrike tested the problematic update on a computer before deploying it, that computer would crash,” Delta’s lawsuit states.
“Without the ability to remotely remove problematic updates, CrowdStrike severely crippled Delta’s business and caused significant delays for Delta customers,” the company added.
Delta Air Lines said the outage forced the airline to cancel 7,000 flights over five days.
What CrowdStrike has to say
CrowdStrike said the airline’s claims were based on misinformation.
CrowdStrike said: “Delta’s claims are based on unsubstantiated misinformation, show Delta’s lack of understanding of how modern cybersecurity works, and reflect its desperate attempts to shift blame for its slow recovery from being outdated. Move away from the issue of IT infrastructure modernization.
Last month, a CrowdStrike executive apologized to Congress for the errant software update and said the company was “determined to prevent this from happening again.”