CrowdStrike is now being sued by Delta Air Lines after it caused a massive outage last July, which caused $500 million in losses, brought down millions of computers, and caused massive flight cancellations.
The attack was described as "unprecedented" by cybersecurity experts because of its scope. It affected several businesses and other facilities overseas, as well as some of the largest enterprises in the world.
Delta Air Lines Sues CrowdStrike
Delta Air Lines sued CrowdStrike last Friday, indicting the security software provider of negligence and breach of contract following a July outage that caused thousands of airline cancellations and failure of millions of machines.
The filed lawsuit stated that CrowdStrike's untested update led to the disturbance of millions of PCs worldwide.
In contrast, CrowdStrike denies the claim and blames Delta's outdated IT infrastructure.
A CrowdStrike spokesperson told CNBC in an email, "Delta's claims are based on disproven misinformation, demonstrate a lack of understanding of how modern cybersecurity works, and reflect a desperate attempt to shift blame for its slow recovery away from its failure to modernize its antiquated IT infrastructure."
Delta's lawsuit argued, "If CrowdStrike had tested the faulty update on even one computer before deployment, the computer would have crashed." They highlighted that CrowdStrike still created massive delays for Delta customers.
Read Also: CrowdStrike Apologizes for July IT Outage, Senior Executive Testifies Before US House Subcommittee
July Incident: A Faulty CrowdStrike Update as the Root of the Outage
The Independent claimed that a flawed update that cybersecurity company CrowdStrike released overnight seems to be to blame. According to reports, the upgrade made it impossible for compromised devices to load correctly.
While CrowdStrike has rolled back the update, it offers little relief for already affected machines. The company has provided a workaround involving a specific boot mode and manual file deletion. However, this process requires administrator access, which becomes a challenge for remotely managed systems.
CrowdStrike's Guidance Hub
Days after the outage, CrowdStrike released the "Remediation and Guidance Hub," a thorough page outlining all the information and actions involved in handling the Windows outage that caused millions of computers to crash globally.
As per CrowdStrike, businesses should only speak with the company's representatives directly through authorized channels and heed the guidance its support personnel provided.
Global IT Outage: 97% Fixed
According to reports, CEO George Kurtz has verified that CrowdStrike has repaired almost 97% of the estimated 8.5 million workstations that fell offline on July 19.
This estimate was revealed days after the outage, and it stated that roughly 250,000 devices were still not operational in the percentage of fixed devices. The CEO of CrowdStrike thanked the company's employees and clients for their "tireless efforts" and apologized again for the event.
A Situation Worth Pondering
In modern technology, wherein many applications and advances tend to simplify our lives through faster transactions, such as in flights and IT solutions, it is still important to be wiser. This is not just for big companies but for individuals. Suffice it to say that any service provider must ensure that the updates better the situation, not worsen it. And the partnering companies acquiring the services must warrant tighter regulations for the sake of their clients.
Related Article: CrowdStrike Has Officially Fixed 97% of the Global IT Outage
