CrowdStrike debacle: US airline examines lawsuit for damages
The major US airline Delta complains about a loss running into millions and sends out the lawyers. CrowdStrike's main reaction is the share price.
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Following massive IT failures worldwide caused by a faulty update from security provider CrowdStrike, the major US airline Delta Air Lines is apparently preparing to sue for damages. Delta has commissioned a well-known law firm to examine claims for damages against CrowdStrike and Microsoft, the US broadcaster CNBC reported on Tuesday.
Delta was massively affected by the CrowdStrike problem. In the days since the incident on July 19, the airline said it had canceled more than 6,000 flights. Delta was only able to report normal operations again six days after the incident. According to the company, the crew scheduling system in particular was permanently disrupted by the outage.
Delta: 500 million US dollars in damage
Delta CEO Ed Bastian estimates the damage caused at up to 500 million US dollars (460 million euros). The airline did not wish to comment on a possible lawsuit. A spokesperson for CrowdStrike said that the company had no knowledge of a lawsuit.
On July 19, CrowdStrike deployed a faulty update for its Falcon Sensor security application, which is deeply embedded in the Windows operating system. This led to system crashes worldwide that could not be easily rectified. According to Microsoft, around 8.5 million Windows computers worldwide were affected. Most of them are now back online.
The incident caused considerable disruption in numerous industries. Aviation was particularly badly affected. At numerous German and international airports, nothing worked at first; thousands of flights by various airlines were canceled. Insurers estimate the damage to major US companies alone at over 5 billion US dollars.
Share price collapses
Following the reports of impending claims for damages, CrowdStrike's share price plummeted by almost 10 percent on Tuesday. Since the incident, CrowdStrike has lost around a third of its stock market value.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Transportation has announced an investigation into the incident at Delta. In addition, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has written to the CEOs of the ten largest airlines warning them to protect the rights of their passengers. The US Department of Homeland Security has also intervened and is calling for an investigation into CrowdStrike.
(vbr)