August 5, 2024 CrowdStrike has responded strongly to Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, who blamed the cybersecurity firm for computer problems that reportedly cost the airline $500 million. CrowdStrike’s legal team stated that Delta ignored multiple offers of assistance during the crisis and would have to justify its own IT shortcomings in any potential litigation.
In a letter to Delta’s legal counsel, CrowdStrike expressed disappointment with Delta’s accusations and rejected claims of gross negligence or willful misconduct. The letter revealed that CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz had personally offered on-site assistance to Delta, but received no response. Delta later declined CrowdStrike’s help during the nearly week-long service outage that led to thousands of flight cancellations.
Delta’s threat of public litigation has contributed to a misleading narrative, according to CrowdStrike’s attorney, Michael Carlinsky. He stated that if Delta pursues legal action, it will need to explain why it declined CrowdStrike’s assistance and why other airlines were able to resume operations faster. Carlinsky emphasized that CrowdStrike took swift and transparent action to address the issue, while Delta did not.
CrowdStrike’s letter questioned the resiliency of Delta’s IT infrastructure and pointed out that other airlines restored operations more quickly. The incident knocked out Delta’s crew tracking system, leading to the cancellation of about 30% of its schedule over five days and stranding an estimated half-million passengers.
CrowdStrike, contractually limited to liabilities in the single millions, stated that while litigation would be unfortunate, it is prepared to defend itself vigorously.
Delta has not yet filed the lawsuit but maintains it must protect its shareholders, customers, and employees from the financial and reputational damage caused by the outage.
