WASHINGTON – On Monday, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), the cybersecurity firm, sued Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) in U.S. District Court in Georgia after a faulty software update prompted a global outage in July.
The July 19 incident led to worldwide flight cancellations and hit industries including banks, healthcare, media companies, and hotel chains.
CrowdStrike said it sued to make clear that CrowdStrike did not cause the harm that Delta claims, and that Delta repeatedly refused assistance from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Delta did not immediately comment on CrowdStrike’s suit.
CrowdStrike is seeking a declaratory judgment plus legal fees.
Delta’s lawsuit filed on Friday in Fulton County Superior Court called the faulty software update from CrowdStrike “catastrophic.” The lawsuit stated that the company “forced untested and faulty updates to its customers, causing over 8.5 million Microsoft Windows-based computers worldwide to crash.”
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) said the faulty update caused 7,000 flight cancellations, disrupted travel plans of 1.3 million customers, and cost the carrier more than $500 million.
CrowdStrike’s lawsuit, also filed on Friday, said Delta’s own response and technology caused delays in the carrier’s ability to resume normal operations.
CrowdStrike’s lawsuit reiterated its contention that it has minimal liability, something Delta rejected.
Delta said CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) is liable for over $500 million in out-of-pocket losses and for unspecified lost profits, expenditures – including legal fees – reputational harm, and future revenue loss.
The incident prompted the U.S. Transportation Department to open an investigation.
“If CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, the computer would have crashed,” Delta’s lawsuit says.
Delta said it has invested billions of dollars in information technology licensing and infrastructure.
Last month, a senior CrowdStrike executive apologized before Congress for the faulty software update.
(Source: Reuters)
Crowdstrike Delta Air Lines NASDAQ: CRWD NYSE: DAL
