CrowdStrike denies responsibility for Delta Airline’s cyber outage chaos, says ‘we are highly disappointed’

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has publicly refuted allegations by Delta Airlines that it should be held accountable for the airline's flight disruptions following the massive global outage on July 19. The incident, which affected over 8 million computers worldwide, has led to significant operational challenges for numerous organizations, including Delta Airlines, Bloomberg reported.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. has criticised the leadership of Delta Air Lines Inc. for failing to respond to an offer of assistance following last month's severe system outage, which resulted in thousands of cancelled flights and prompted a federal investigation.

CrowdStrike expressed its disappointment in a letter to Delta Airlines, stating, “We are highly disappointed by Delta's suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly reject any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed misconduct.”

In a letter dated August 4 from CrowdStrike's attorneys, the technology firm reinforced its earlier claim that Delta had dismissed multiple offers of help. The letter highlighted that CrowdStrike's CEO, George Kurtz, attempted to reach Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, but received no reply.

"CrowdStrike’s CEO personally reached out to Delta’s CEO to offer onsite assistance but received no response," the letter, signed by Michael Carlinsky, co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, stated.

CrowdStrike, in a separate emailed statement, expressed hope that Delta would eventually agree to work together to resolve the issue.

A Delta spokesperson acknowledged the letter but referred to Bastian's previous comments to CNBC, in which he mentioned potential legal action to recover financial losses, compensation for passengers, and mitigate reputational damage.

Delta, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was significantly impacted by the outage, struggling to return to normal operations for several days. The airline reported a $500 million loss after cancelling over 5,500 flights in the days following the incident, which affected computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system.

CrowdStrike’s letter also mentioned that its liability is contractually limited to an amount in the single-digit millions.

Other airlines, including Spirit Airlines Inc., which projected a $7.2 million loss in third-quarter operating income due to the outage, and AirAsia, whose co-founder Tony Fernandes has also demanded compensation, were also affected by the mid-July disruption.

(With Inputs from Bloomberg)