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 Refutes CrowdStrike’s Claims in Latest Letter
08.08.2024 - 22:35 / skift.com / Ed Bastian / Summer Travel / Meghna Maharishi / David Boies / Delta
Delta Air Lines fired back at CrowdStrike Thursday, saying the cybersecurity firm is taking a “blame the victim” defense.
In a letter sent to CrowdStrike’s attorney, Delta’s lawyer David Boies said CrowdStrike failed to provide an “automatic” solution to resolve an IT outage that eventually turned into a meltdown for Delta.
“There is no basis — none — to suggest that Delta was in any way responsible for the faulty software that crashed systems around the world, including Delta’s,” Boies wrote. CrowdStrike has not suggested that Delta was responsible for the July 19 outage, but that it shouldn’t be blamed for Delta’s five day-long meltdown.
While other airlines recovered quickly from the July 19 CrowdStrike outage, it took Delta much longer to bounce back. The carrier canceled around 7,000 flights.
Delta is now expecting to take a $380 million revenue hit during the third quarter, according to a regulatory filing posted Thursday. The carrier will also incur $170 million in expenses related to customer reimbursements and crew costs.
CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week that the carrier had “no choice” but to sue CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
Boies’ letter refutes most of the claims from CrowdStrike. However, the letter does not directly address Microsoft’s claims. Microsoft’s attorney sent a letter to Delta on Tuesday that claimed outdated technology most likely caused Delta’s meltdown.
“Rather than continuing to try to evade responsibility, I would hope that CrowdStrike would immediately share everything it knows,” Boies’ letter read. “It will all come out in litigation anyway.”
CrowdStrike said on Monday that it offered Delta onsite assistance for the meltdown, but Delta refused. The cybersecurity firm’s lawyer also said that its CEO contacted Bastian, but got no response.
Now, Delta is claiming that CrowdStrike CEO George Kurz’s offer of help was “unhelpful and untimely.” Boies wrote that the offer came four days after the IT outage and by that time, Delta had already restored most of its critical systems.
“Many of the remaining machines were located in secure airport areas requiring government-mandated access clearance,” the letter read. “By that time Delta’s confidence in CrowdStrike was naturally shaken.”
Delta is also claiming that CrowdStrike did not proactively offer onsite assistance. Instead, the carrier said CrowdStrike referred it to a website that suggested to manually reboot every single affected machine.
CrowdStrike said Kurz called Delta board member David DeWalt four hours into the July 19 outage and the company’s chief security officer was in contact with their counterpart at Delta. CrowdStrike also said its teams and Delta’s “worked closely together within hours
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