Microsoft, CrowdStrike in a row with Delta over pricey outage fallout
Logo of CrowdStrike
Microsoft and CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company, have joined forces in a bid to debunk allegations by Delta Air Lines that the two firms were to blame for last month's tech outage that grounded thousands of flights. The battle, anchored on accusations from Delta, has just accelerated as each of these tech companies rush to defend their reputation.
On Tuesday, Microsoft lawyer Mark Cheffo wrote a letter to Delta attorney David Boies, pushing back on its claims, saying that the airline's core tech system is probably serviced by other technology vendors, not Microsoft Windows. "Your letter and Delta's public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation," Cheffo said.
Cheffo further noted the efforts that Microsoft had made to understand why other airlines restored their operations faster than Delta. The remark, in a way, exposes the growing rift between the tech giants and the Atlanta-based airline.
Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said a global tech outage—a faulty CrowdStrike upgrade on machines running Microsoft Windows—ran $500 million. He also intimated that lawsuits against those companies responsible could be in order. For its part, the statement reflected a commitment to reliable service—'billions of dollars in IT capital expenditures' since 2016, and some more as annual IT costs—before refusing to comment further.
Delta's claims were dismissed by CrowdStrike, too. CrowdStrike responded that Delta turned down its - and Microsoft's - offers to help the airline recover following the outage. According to Cheffo, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella even emailed Bastian during the crisis and did not get a response.
The escalating conflict between Delta and the tech companies underlines the complexity and high stakes involved in the maintenance and management of critical tech infrastructure in the aviation sector. And as events unfold, attention remains fixed on accountability and strong, dependable technology solutions to ensure that similar disruptions do not occur in the future.
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