Delta faces hefty $500M bill from CrowdStrike outage expenses

TLDR:

• Delta Air Lines faced $500 million in costs due to a CrowdStrike outage.
• CEO Ed Bastian plans to seek damages from Microsoft and CrowdStrike for the outage.

Delta Air Lines incurred $500 million in costs over five days due to a CrowdStrike outage, resulting in lost revenue and customer compensation, according to CEO Ed Bastian in an interview with CNBC. The airline’s delayed recovery was attributed to its heavy reliance on Microsoft and CrowdStrike services, requiring the manual reset of 40,000 servers impacted by the outage. Delta plans to seek compensation from Microsoft and CrowdStrike to cover the costs incurred. The outage took down 8.5 million Windows devices globally, heavily disrupting the airline industry. Delta retained legal counsel to pursue damages from both companies. The incident has prompted Delta to reconsider its IT setup, as industry experts anticipate significant costs for Fortune 500 companies and increased scrutiny on cyber insurance. Delta did not immediately comment on its plans to seek compensation, but Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced an investigation into the airline’s handling of the disruption. The outage has drawn attention to the relationship between Microsoft and CrowdStrike, prompting calls for responsibility and closer collaboration between tech companies to prevent future disruptions.