ATLANTA - Temperatures are rising in the blame game between software company CrowdStrike and Delta Air Lines over responsibilities for the massive IT outage that impacted air traffic across the U.S. on July 19.
According to a letter posted on X by aviation reporter David Slotnick on Sunday, CrowdStrike attorney Michael Carlinsky told Delta attorney David Boies that it was misleading to say CrowdStrike was responsible for Delta’s IT decisions in response to the outage. Boies was reportedly retained by Delta to seek damages from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft after airline CEO Ed Bastian said the outages cost the company $500 million.
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The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
7 August 2024 - “CrowdStrike reiterates its apology to Delta, its employees, and its customers, and is empathetic to the circumstances they faced,” the letter from Carlinsky states. “However, CrowdStrike is highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed willful misconduct with respect to the Channel File 291 incident. Your suggestion that CrowdStrike failed to do testing and validation is contradicted by the very information on which you rely from CrowdStrike’s Preliminary Post Incident Review.”
“Delta’s public threat of litigation distracts from this work and has contributed to a misleading narrative that CrowdStrike is responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to the outage,” the letter continues. “Should Delta pursue this path, Delta 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.”
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
