Software Sharpens Teeth of Cybersecurity Firm, Fangs Out in Court
A killer update has landed cyber security firm CrowdStrike in a bloody fight with Delta Air Lines, after a faulty software update brought the world to its knees in July.
The deadly update, unleashed globally on July 19, triggered a global outage, canceling flights, paralyzing banks, hospitals, and hotels. It was like the zombie apocalypse, but instead of slow-moving, undead, it was fast-moving, digitally armed and dangerous… and completely untested.
CrowdStrike thinks it’s being unfairly targeted, and has taken to the courts to prove that they didn’t cause the chaos. But Delta Air Lines believes they are to blame, and is seeking damages of over $500 million… and that’s not even counting the emotional distress, reputational harm, and future revenue losses.
"The software update was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to blow up in our faces," said a defiant Delta Air Lines in a statement. "And CrowdStrike knew it, knew it, knows it… and yet, they still unleashed it on the world, causing untold harm to millions of people."
But CrowdStrike is firing back, saying that Delta’s own response to the crisis was slow, and that their own technology contributed to the delays in getting operations back on track. The firm is seeking a declaratory judgment, plus legal fees, and some justice.
The battle has only just begun, with the US transportation department investigating the incident, and the original article’s author, David Shepardson, reminding us that "if CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, it would have crashed."
Stay tuned for the latest updates on this tech nightmare!
