CrowdStrike has responded assertively to Delta Air Lines after the carrier’s CEO, Ed Bastian, accused the cybersecurity firm of being responsible for a service disruption that allegedly cost Delta $500 million.
The widespread IT outage, caused by a flawed software update, began on July 19 and impacted not only airlines, but hundreds of other companies worldwide. For Delta in particular, the resulting service disruptions lasted nearly a week and resulted in the cancellation of thousands of flights.
In a letter from CrowdStrike’s legal counsel to Delta's legal team on Sunday, the cybersecurity company rejected Bastian’s accusations and highlighted Delta’s own deficiencies. It said that it was, “highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately, and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed willful misconduct.”
According to CNN, although Bastian claimed that CrowdStrike failed to offer any support during the crisis, Sunday’s letter stated that CrowdStrike’s CEO George Kurtz personally made an offer of onsite assistance at the time, which went unanswered. The letter further noted that Delta later told CrowdStrike it didn’t need any help during the airline's five-day disaster.
Michael Carlinsky, CrowdStrike's attorney, wrote in the letter that Delta’s public threat of a lawsuit, “contributed to a misleading narrative that CrowdStrike is responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to the outage,” adding, “Should Delta pursue this path, Delta will have to explain to the public, its shareholders, and ultimately a jury why CrowdStrike took responsibility for its actions—swiftly, transparently, and constructively—while Delta did not.”
The IT meltdown severely affected Delta's operations and impeded its crucial crew tracking system, thwarting its ability to find pilots and flight attendants to staff its airplanes. This led to the cancellation of about 30 percent of its flights over the course of five days, which left an approximate total of 500,000 passengers stranded. After IT functionality was restored, it still took many days to rebook impacted passengers and get their checked luggage back to them.
Other airlines affected by the same outage managed to restore operations much faster, a point CrowdStrike emphasized, questioning Delta’s IT infrastructure resiliency. The traveling public has likewise questioned and complained about Delta’s long delay in getting operations back on track, and delivering affected passengers to their destinations.
Despite Delta’s outspoken criticism, CrowdStrike maintains that it acted appropriately and fulfilled its contractual obligations. The firm mentioned that its liabilities are contractually capped
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After a July it would rather forget, Delta Air Lines is working hard to restore its reputation as an aviation innovator. The U.S. carrier is launching free onboard Wi-Fi across its global network in the coming months, with many major markets enjoying the perk within a matter of weeks.
A Delta Air Lines charter flight carrying players and staff members of the NFL's Carolina Panthers slid off of the runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport early Friday morning.No one was injured when the plane skidded into the mud while taxiing to Wilson Air Center at around 2:35 a.m. local time Friday.Citing a source familiar with the situation, ESPN reported that it took roughly an hour for a bus to get the team back to the air center after deplaning. The aircraft was eventually towed out of the area and crews made repairs before the taxiway reopened around 6:30 a.m.
The accusations continue to fly in the wake of last month’s global IT outage that impacted scores of flights.On the heels of Delta Air Lines saying it has “no choice” but to pursue damages from Microsoft and CrowdStrike in relation to the tech meltdown, Microsoft is firing back.Today, the tech giant accused Delta of not modernizing its technology in the lead up to the IT outage. Mark Cheffo, a partner at Dechert, the law firm representing Microsoft, said in a letter to Delta’s attorney today that Microsoft is wondering why American Airlines, United Airlines and other carriers were able to bounce back from the global IT meltdown more quickly than Delta. “Our preliminary review suggests that Delta, unlike its competitors, apparently has not modernized its IT infrastructure, either for the benefit of its customers or for its pilots and flight attendants,” Cheffo said in the letter, per CNBC.Delta canceled some 5,000 flights as a result of the July 19 IT issue, which was triggered by a software update from CrowdStrike. Millions of computers that use Microsoft Windows were ultimately impacted worldwide — for both airlines and businesses alike.Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said publicly last week that the airline is seeking about $500 million in damages for the massive disruption.The airline shot back in response to Microsoft’s new claims, pointing out that it has “a long track record of investing in safe, reliable and elevated service for our customers and employees."“Since 2016, Delta has invested billions of dollars in IT capital expenditures, in addition to the billions spent annually in IT operating costs,” Delta said in response to the Tuesday letter from Microsoft, according to a statement issued by the airline, per CNBC.Additionally, back in July, Delta lawyers told Microsoft: “We have reason to believe Microsoft has failed to comply with contractual requirements and otherwise acted in a grossly negligent, indeed willful, manner in connection with the Faulty Update” from CrowdStrike that triggered the IT issue.Cheffo rejected Delta's assertion, stating in his own letter that while Microsoft “empathizes with Delta and its customers..Delta’s public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation.”Cheffo also said that Microsoft offered to provide Delta with free assistance in the wake of the July 19 tech incident. But according to Cheffo’s letter, the airline rejected the support.
Delta Air Lines is now rolling out fast, free Wi-Fi by T-Mobile on select long-haul international routes, with most transatlantic flights to be in service with free Wi-Fi by the end of the summer.
Alaska Airlines was the most on-time carrier in North America in July in a month that saw mass flight delays due to the fallout from the CrowdStrike IT outage.
In the latest salvo of a brewing public relations war, Microsoft joined CrowdStrike in pushing back against recent criticism from Delta Air Lines, claiming that the carrier rejected technical assistance in the aftermath of an outage that eventually led it to cancel more than 5,000 flights.