October 28, 2024 at 05:14PM
Delta Air Lines is suing CrowdStrike for $500 million in lost revenue due to a July outage caused by a defective update to its Falcon Sensor software. The incident led to thousands of flight cancellations and lawsuits. Delta aims to recover costs and punitive damages amid a dispute over liability.
**Meeting Takeaways: Delta Air Lines vs. CrowdStrike**
1. **Lawsuit Filed**: Delta Air Lines is suing CrowdStrike for $500 million in lost revenue due to an outage caused by a defective software update to the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor.
2. **Outage Details**:
– The outage occurred in July and was triggered by a bug in the memory scanning prevention policy, causing widespread disruptions, including “blue screen of death” displays on Microsoft servers.
– Delta had to cancel approximately 7,000 flights (July 19-24), affecting about 1.3 million customers and leading to multiple class-action lawsuits.
3. **Financial Impact**:
– Delta estimates recovery costs from the outage at around $170 million.
– The airline is seeking not only to recover lost funds but also punitive damages against CrowdStrike.
4. **Claims Against CrowdStrike**: Delta’s lawsuit alleges that CrowdStrike failed to properly test the Falcon sensor update, resulting in the global disruption. Delta accuses the cybersecurity company of cutting corners and not adhering to their advertised testing procedures.
5. **CrowdStrike’s Response**: The company contends that Delta is misinformed and attempting to shift blame for its delayed recovery from the outage. They argue the lost revenue attributable to their actions is less than $10 million.
6. **Investigations in Progress**:
– The U.S. Department of Transportation is looking into Delta’s recovery speed compared to other airlines and customer service complaints during the outage.
– Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has expressed intent to investigate Delta’s handling of customer service during the crisis.
7. **Settlement Attempts**: CrowdStrike attempted to resolve disputes with Delta earlier this year but failed to reach an agreement on liability for lost revenue.
8. **Next Steps**: The lawsuit is currently in the Georgia state court, with ongoing investigations and discussions around the impact of the outage and the responsibilities of both parties.
**Action Items**:
– Monitor the developments in the lawsuit and investigations.
– Prepare for potential implications on Delta’s operational strategies and customer service improvements in response to the findings.