Delta Air Lines Pursues Legal Recourse Following Major Cyber Outage

Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) is reportedly taking legal steps against cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and tech giant Microsoft after a significant system outage on July 19, which led to widespread disruptions including thousands of flight cancellations. This incident was reportedly triggered by a problematic software update, as disclosed by CNBC and later confirmed by CNN.

The airline, which has engaged the prominent New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, led by David Boies, is considering a lawsuit though no formal legal action has been initiated yet. Delta is among the first, if not the only airline so far, to seek damages for the outage which has had considerable financial repercussions. It is estimated that the outage led to around 7,000 flight cancellations for Delta, resulting in financial losses ranging from USD 350 million to USD 500 million.

Delta’s systems, heavily reliant on Windows-based platforms—approximately 60% of its critical applications are run on Microsoft technologies—were particularly vulnerable, amplifying the impact of the outage on its operations.

The broader economic impact of the incident is substantial, with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) investigating the outage, which reportedly resulted in a loss of USD 5.4 billion across Fortune 500 companies, excluding Microsoft. This incident underscores the cascading effects that cybersecurity and technological failures can have on critical infrastructure sectors, including transportation and logistics.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, ch-aviation.com