CrowdStrike strikes back over Delta Air Lines’ $500 million claim

Simone Del Rosario:

Who’s more to blame for Delta stranding half a million passengers during the CrowdStrike outage a couple of weeks ago? CrowdStrike or Delta?

The answer is worth half a billion dollars.

CrowdStrike is striking back at Delta’s claim the cybersecurity company is financially responsible for the airline’s outsized downfall during the July 19th outage.

In a letter reported by Reuters, CrowdStrike’s lawyer said 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.”

The letter came after Delta lawyered up with a high-powered attorney to seek damages from CrowdStrike after having to cancel more than 6,000 flights in six days.

CrowdStrike’s attorney says if Delta moves forward with a lawsuit, it “will have to explain to the public, its shareholders and ultimately a jury why CrowdStrike took responsibility for its actions — swiftly, transparently and constructively — while Delta did not.”

Ed Bastian:

“Well, we’re not looking to wipe them out. But we’re looking to make certain that we get compensated for what they cost us. Half a billion dollars in 5 days.”

“So we have to protect our shareholders, we have to protect our customers, our employees for the damage. Not just for the cost, but the brand, the reputational damage and the physical challenges.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Crowdstrike says their contracts cap compensation for these situations in the “single-digit millions.” A far cry from the half a billion dollars Delta says it lost.

The cybersecurity company says its CEO personally reached out to Delta CEO Ed Bastian to offer onsite assistance “but received no response.” CrowdStrike’s attorney says Delta will also need to answer for why it didn’t accept that help.

Ed Bastian:
“They haven’t offered anything. Free consulting advice to help us.”

“We thought we had the best between Microsoft and Crowdstrike. In fact they’re integrated, that’s what caused a lot of the slowdown. Because it was hard to decouple them to unencrypt. We had 40,000 servers we had to physically touch and reset.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Delta says the company spent tens of millions per day in compensation and hotels to travelers. The Department of Transportation opened an investigation into why Delta took so much longer than other airlines to get up and running.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Simone Del Rosario