ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines on Friday sued CrowdStrike, accusing the airline of cutting corners with the cybersecurity firm, causing a global technology outage and leading to thousands of flight cancellations in July.
The airline is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the outage, which began with a faulty update sent to millions of Microsoft computers. Delta Air Lines said the outage disrupted operations for several days and resulted in more than $500 million in lost revenue and additional costs.
CrowdStrike did not immediately comment, but a lawyer representing the company said Delta’s response was misleading, pointing out that other airlines recovered from power outages faster this summer.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating why Delta Air Lines took longer to recover than other airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department would investigate complaints about Delta’s customer service during the power outage, including reports of long waits for help and reports of unaccompanied minors being stranded at airports. Ta.
Delta Air Lines alleges in its lawsuit that the outage occurred because CrowdStrike failed to test the update before rolling it out globally.
Delta Air Lines canceled about 7,000 flights over a five-day period during the busy summer holiday season. The outage also affected banks, hospitals and other businesses.
“CrowdStrike cut corners, took shortcuts, and circumvented the very testing and certification process it advertised for its own benefit and benefit,” Delta Air Lines said in a lawsuit filed in Georgia’s Fulton County Superior Court. , which caused a global catastrophe.” Near the company’s headquarters.
After Delta Air Lines hired a lawyer to file a lawsuit, CrowdStrike hired its own legal counsel and fought back. Michael Karlinsky, an attorney for the technology company, said Delta Air Lines “contributed to the misleading narrative that CrowdStrike was responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to failures.” Karlinsky said CrowdStrike’s debt should be less than $10 million.
