Delta's new attorney seeks over $350 million from Microsoft and CrowdStrike after the global outage — a $10 gift card won't cut it
Delta Air Lines has hired a lawyer to seek damages from Microsoft and CrowdStrike as a bug left passengers stranded at airports.
![AI generated image of airplanes with BSOD computer errors](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ANPnypPWvQV4sVUr3eFNvg-320-80.jpg)
What you need to know
- Trouble continues to brew for Microsoft and CrowdStrike after the global IT outage, as Delta has hired a prominent lawyer to seek damages.
- Delta Air Lines reportedly lost over $350 million during the outage in flight cancellations and reimbursements.
- The outage has negatively impacted CrowdStrike's value, which lost one-quarter of its value in just two trading days.
The massive outage impacting Microsoft services, including 8.5 million Windows devices caused by a faulty CrowdStrike, seemingly continues to place both companies between a rock and a hard place.
While the digital pandemic that left thousands of passengers stranded at the airport for hours (forcing flight attendants to issue handwritten boarding passes) has since been resolved, Delta Air Lines still has a bone to pick with Microsoft and CrowdStrike. According to a report by CNBC, the airline has hired prominent attorney David Boies to seek damages from Microsoft and CrowdStrike.
Shortly after the discovery of the massive global IT outage, Microsoft issued a statement indicating that it had fixed the issue and recommended restarting devices up to 15 times to speed up recovery. Affected users were quick to shift blame for the outage to Microsoft, though it was later confirmed that the tech giant wasn't at fault.
🔥Hottest hardware deals🔥
- ASUS ROG Ally (Z1, 512GB) | was
$499.99now $399.99 at Best Buy - Seagate Storage Card for Xbox (2TB) | was
$360now $229.99 at Amazon - Surface Pro Signature Keyboard+Slim Pen 2 | was
$280now $113 at Best Buy - Back to School Sale underway at Lenovo's official storefront
Recovering from a digital pandemic
Microsoft and CrowdStrike have put elaborate measures in place to prevent the issue from reoccurring, including restricting security software like CrowdStrike's Falcon from accessing Windows 11 at a kernel level.
Following the unfortunate incident, CrowdStrike lost almost one-quarter of its value in two trading days, with its shares falling by up to 5% after Delta hired Boles to seek damages from the company.
For context, the massive outage set back Delta Air Lines approximately $350 million to $500 million, translating to over 176,000 refund and reimbursement requests. It's worth noting that up to 7,000 people canceled their flights.
RELATED: Microsoft 365 and Azure gets hit with a big new server outage
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
Delta is seemingly among the first companies affected by the buggy update to file a lawsuit against CrowdStrike and Microsoft. I guess CrowdStrike will need more than $10 erroneous Uber Eats gift cards to remedy the situation.
This is a developing story; we'll keep you posted with more information as it becomes available.
Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You'll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.
-
fjtorres5591 Microsoft can squirm out of it if they can prove kernel access was indeed forced upon them by EU regulators.Reply
By publicly available reports, Crowdstrike deserves the full blame.