Delta Air Lines sues CrowdStrike over software update that prompted mass flight disruptions

Delta Air Lines’ lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court called the faulty software update from CrowdStrike “catastrophic” and said the firm “forced untested and faulty updates to its customers, causing more than 8.5 million Microsoft Windows-based computers around the world to crash.”

The Jul 19 incident led to worldwide flight cancellations and hit industries around the globe including banks, healthcare, media companies and hotel chains.

CrowdStrike did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Friday (Oct 25). Previously, it rejected Delta’s criticism and suggested it has minimal liability.

Delta, which has purchased CrowdStrike products since 2022, said the outage forced it to cancel 7,000 flights, affecting 1.3 million passengers over five days.

Delta said CrowdStrike is liable for over US$500 million in out-of-pocket losses as well as for an unspecified amount of lost profits, expenditures, including attorneys’ fees and “reputational harm and future revenue loss”.

The incident prompted the US Transportation Department to open an investigation.

BT in your inbox

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

“If CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, the computer would have crashed,” Delta’s lawsuit says. “Because the faulty update could not be removed remotely, CrowdStrike crippled Delta’s business and created immense delays for Delta customers.”

Delta said that as part of its IT-planning and infrastructure, it has invested billions of dollars “in licensing and building some of the best technology solutions in the airline industry.” CrowdStrike has questioned why Delta fared so much worse than other airlines.

Last month, a senior executive at CrowdStrike apologised before Congress for the faulty software update.

Adam Meyers, a senior vice-president at CrowdStrike, said the company released a content configuration update for its Falcon Sensor security software that resulted in system crashes worldwide.

“We are deeply sorry this happened and we are determined to prevent this from happening again,” Meyers said. REUTERS