CrowdStrike dismisses Delta Airlines lawsuit citing contract terms | Real Time Headlines

mass strike moved to sack on monday night Delta Air Lines The airline’s lawsuit over a July cybersecurity outage that canceled flights and stranded passengers argued the airline’s lawsuit was an attempt to circumvent a contract between the two companies.

The agreement between CrowdStrike and Delta Air Lines includes a provision that caps CrowdStrike’s liability and damages, a provision that cybersecurity providers say Delta is now trying to circumvent. CrowdStrike also argued in its filing that Georgia law prohibits Delta from converting the breach of contract into a tort claim.

“First, Georgia’s economic loss rules expressly prohibit Delta from pursuing a tort claim to recover the economic losses it claims to have suffered,” CrowdStrike wrote.

Delta Air Lines said a cyber security outage in July cost the airline more than $500 million, including flight cancellations, refunds and passenger accommodations. It is seeking to recoup those fees from CrowdStrike through litigation. But the damage to Delta’s reputation as a premium airline cannot yet be quantified, nor can the impact of the Transportation Department’s investigation into Delta’s outage.

Delta Air Lines continued to rely on CrowdStrike services after the outage, likely because it is extremely difficult to switch cybersecurity vendors in a system as large and complex as Delta’s.

Still, CrowdStrike said it moved quickly to try to help Delta, but the cybersecurity company said their offer was rejected. CrowdStrike cited a message from a Delta executive saying: “We are currently in good shape.” The cybersecurity company said senior executives were in close contact on the day of the outage.

“Delta has repeatedly refused any assistance from CrowdStrike or its partners,” CrowdStrike wrote.

CrowdStrike further noted that Delta’s own practices and systems led to widespread delays and cancellations, unlike other peers that recovered more quickly from outages.

“Delta Airlines was an exception,” CrowdStrike wrote in the filing. Although Delta acknowledged that it took Delta employees hours, not days, to fix the outage, “the number of canceled flights was far greater.” This exceeds the number of flight disruptions experienced by peer airlines.

The cybersecurity company’s stock price took a heavy hit after the outage, plunging 44%. The company has since largely recovered from those losses, posting strong quarterly results even after lowering guidance due to the incident. CrowdStrike benefits from the relative stickiness of its product, especially among larger enterprises.

A spokesman for Delta Air Lines was not immediately available for comment.