CrowdStrike claim Delta of distributing misinformation and shifting blame for slow recovery.
Delta Air Lines has filed a lawsuit against CrowdStrike, claiming the July outage incurred over $500 million in losses for the carrier.
CNN reports that Delta alleges negligence on the part of CrowdStrike in forcing "untested and faulty" updates for its Falcon platform, which resulted in the global IT service outage.
"If CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, the computer would have crashed,” said the airline in its lawsuit. “Because the faulty update could not be removed remotely, CrowdStrike crippled Delta's business and created immense delays for Delta customers.”
Media reports claim Delta canceled about 7,000 flights over a five-day period during the peak summer vacation season due to the outage. “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.
Claims Misinformation
However a CrowdStrike statement alleged Delta of giving “misinformation,” and of trying to shift blame for its slow recovery from the outage.
The spokesperson 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.”
A CrowdStrike spokesperson also said the company tried to resolve the dispute, as one of its lawyers said in August that CrowdStrike's liability to Delta was less than $10 million.
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
