Delta Sues CrowdStrike Over ‘Catastrophic’ IT Outage

Delta Air Lines has made good on its promise to sue cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

The lawsuit, as reported Friday (Oct. 25) evening by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), stems from a worldwide technology outage in July that grounded 7,000 Delta flights, while causing upheaval at other airlines, banks and hospitals.

According to the report, the suit accuses CrowdStrike of gross negligence, alleging that the company is to blame for the outage and its fallout. Delta called the outage “catastrophic,” pointing to $500 million in losses as well as threats to future revenue. 

“CrowdStrike committed a series of intentional and grossly negligent acts that caused the global IT outage on July 19, impacting 8.5 million computers,” a spokesperson for the airline said.

The suit, which seeks monetary compensation, also accuses CrowdStrike of intentional misrepresentation, computer trespassing, breach of contract, and deceptive and unfair business practices. 

For its part, CrowdStrike said the suit goes against its effort to come to a resolution that puts customers first.

“Delta’s claims are based on disproven 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 told WSJ.

CrowdStrike has also argued that while it accepts responsibility for the outage, Delta made things worse for itself by turning down free onsite help to restore its systems. 

The suit comes nearly three months after Delta said it would seek damages against the cybersecurity firm because of the outage. The airline’s quarterly earnings, released earlier this month, showed a slight drop in earnings per share due to the incident.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year about the way the outage illustrates the need for effective disaster recovery planning between businesses and their B2B partners. 

“This includes sharing information about potential risks, coordinating response strategies and conducting joint drills and simulations,” that report said. “By working together, businesses and their partners can ensure a more comprehensive and cohesive approach to resilience.”

Whether it’s because of a cyberattack, natural disaster or technical failure, PYMNTS wrote, an outage can interrupt operations, chip away at customer trust and bring about substantial financial losses. For businesses, the ability to recover quickly from these incidents is vital.