On Sunday, CrowdStrike refuted Delta Air Lines’ (NYSE: DAL) claim that the cybersecurity firm was responsible for flight disruptions following a global outage on July 19 caused by a faulty update. CrowdStrike suggested it has minimal liability in the matter.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian stated last week that the outage cost the airline $500 million and that legal action would be taken to seek compensation from CrowdStrike.
While reiterating its apology to Delta, CrowdStrike stated in a letter from an external lawyer that it is “highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed misconduct.”
Delta canceled over 6,000 flights in six days, affecting more than 500,000 passengers. The airline is under investigation by the U.S. Transportation Department to understand why it took longer to recover from the outage compared to other airlines.
The CrowdStrike letter noted that “any liability by CrowdStrike is contractually capped at an amount in the single-digit millions.”
Delta declined to comment on the CrowdStrike letter.
CrowdStrike contacted Delta within hours of the incident to offer assistance. “Additionally, CrowdStrike’s CEO personally reached out to Delta’s CEO to offer onsite assistance but received no response,” the letter stated.
Bastian told CNBC last week that CrowdStrike had offered “free consulting advice to help us.”
In a letter to U.S. lawmakers seen by Reuters, Delta said CrowdStrike’s faulty update “impacted more than half of Delta computers, including many of Delta’s workstations at every airport in the Delta network.”
The letter also mentioned that Delta’s “complex IT system, which distributes and synchronizes all our data, including the data that feeds our crew tracking and gating software, required manual recovery.”
CrowdStrike’s letter added that if Delta files suit, it will need to explain “why Delta’s competitors, facing similar challenges, all restored operations much faster” and “why Delta turned down free onsite help from CrowdStrike professionals who assisted many other customers to restore operations much more quickly than Delta.”
A CrowdStrike spokesperson commented that “public posturing about potentially bringing a meritless lawsuit against CrowdStrike as a long-time partner is not constructive to any party. We hope that Delta will agree to work cooperatively to find a resolution.”
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