CrowdStrike Strikes Back With Official Counterclaim Against Delta Air Lines

The legal battle between Delta Air Lines and CrowdStrike has intensified further. The cybersecurity firm also filed a lawsuit against Delta just days after the airline approached the court to claim damages for the July systems outage. While several airlines around the world were affected by the outage, Delta, in particular, was severely impacted.

CrowdStrike sues Delta

As Delta Air Lines begins to take legal action against CrowdStrike for the millions in losses due to tech outage in July, the cybersecurity firm has also decided to file a counterclaim against the airline, with the two companies locking horns with each other.

According to a report by Reuters, CrowdStrike has approached the US District Court in Georgia to file a case against Delta. The company said that it is suing the carrier to prove that it did not cause any harm to Delta. It goes on to add that any help offered to Delta by CrowdStrike and Microsoft was refused by the airline.

With lawsuits filed by both sides, the fight will likely intensify in the coming weeks or months before any outcome is declared.

Delta’s lawsuit

Delta Air Lines has been quite vocal and critical of CrowdSource ever since its operations were heavily impacted on the day of the July outage. On Friday, the airline filed a lawsuit against the cybersecurity company in Fulton County Superior Court, adding that the incident forced the airline to cancel 7,000 flights in less than a week.

CrowdStrike has, in fact, maintained that it was not responsible for the damage faced by Delta to the extent the airline is alleging, adding that much of the losses faced by the carrier following the outage was due to its own negligence.

Delta has stated in its complaint that “CrowdStrike caused a global catastrophe because it cut corners, took shortcuts, and circumvented the very testing and certification processes it advertised, for its own benefit and profit.”

Delta was impacted significantly

The impact of the system outage was not restricted to the US or even the airline industry. Other carriers, airports, banks, and even hospitals and insurance companies, among other sectors, faced massive operational disruptions.

While most airlines recovered within days following the outage, Delta took far longer and lost significantly more money than its competitors. Between July 19 and July 24, it canceled around 7,000 scheduled flights, which translated into a loss of over $500 million. The entire episode disrupted the travel plans of more than a million Delta passengers.

CrowdStrike took responsibility for the outage and offered assistance to affected businesses. In the days following the outage, Delta became increasingly critical of CrowdStrike’s role in it and its immense consequences for its operations.

To mend things, George Kurtz, the chief executive officer (CEO) of CrowdStrike, said that he was open to the idea of sitting down with Delta Air Lines’ management to find an out-of-court solution to the problem.

Clearly, that was not the case, as Delta’s recent lawsuit has proved that it wants to resolve this through a legal route. It remains to be seen how this plays out in the coming days.