Delta Sues CrowdStrike Over $500M Loss from Global Outage

Delta Air Lines has filed a lawsuit against cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike in a Georgia state court, claiming a software update from CrowdStrike led to a global system outage in July. The disruption forced Delta to cancel 7,000 flights, impacting 1.3 million passengers over five days and costing the airline more than $500 million.

In its suit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, Delta alleged CrowdStrike released an “untested and faulty” update on July 19, causing crashes on over 8.5 million Windows-based computers worldwide. Industries from healthcare to hospitality were affected, and Delta claims the incident was “catastrophic” for its operations.

CrowdStrike, however, argued that Delta’s claims rely on “disproven misinformation” and reflect a misunderstanding of modern cybersecurity, adding that Delta’s “antiquated IT infrastructure” worsened its response. Delta dismissed this, stating its significant IT investments and blaming CrowdStrike for the delays.

The U.S. Transportation Department has since launched an investigation into the incident. Additionally, Adam Meyers, a senior executive at CrowdStrike, apologized before Congress, explaining that a configuration update to their Falcon Sensor software had caused the crashes and committed to preventing future incidents.

Delta is seeking compensation for lost profits, reputational damage, and future revenue loss, as well as legal costs. CrowdStrike questioned why Delta suffered more than other companies affected, claiming limited liability, an assertion Delta rejects.