CrowdStrike Disputes Negligence Claims in Letter to Delta Attorney

Software company says it offered free on-site assistance to help the airline fix IT issues during the outage.

Caleb Revill

Tuesday, August 06, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

A Delta A220 (Credit: AirlineGeeks/William Derrickson]

Key Takeaways:

Delta Air Lines is preparing to sue CrowdStrike and Microsoft for a massive IT outage that reportedly cost the airline $500 million, alleging gross negligence.
CrowdStrike vehemently denies responsibility for Delta's extensive losses, stating it offered immediate help and an available fix, which Delta declined, and argues that Delta's own IT decisions and slow recovery were at fault.
CrowdStrike is preparing a strong legal defense, challenging Delta to explain its actions, demanding extensive documentation of Delta's IT infrastructure and incident response, and asserting that any potential liability is contractually capped.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Temperatures are rising in the blame game between software company CrowdStrike and Delta Air Lines over responsibilities for the massive IT outage that impacted air traffic across the U.S. on July 19.

According to a letter posted on X by aviation reporter David Slotnick on Sunday, CrowdStrike attorney Michael Carlinsky told Delta attorney David Boies that it was misleading to say CrowdStrike was responsible for Delta’s IT decisions in response to the outage. Boies was reportedly retained by Delta to seek damages from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft after airline CEO Ed Bastian said the outages cost the company $500 million.