- Microsoft blamed Delta Air Lines on Tuesday for its dayslong struggle to recover from a global cyber outage that led it to cancel more than 6,000 flights.
- Microsoft said its preliminary review suggested that Delta, unlike its competitors, apparently had not modernised its IT infrastructure.
OUR TAKE
The disruptions stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers and cost the Atlanta-based airline an estimated $500 million. Delta is also facing a U.S. Department of Transportation investigation into the disruption. It hired prominent litigator David Boies Schiller Flexner, who is known for high-stakes business cases, to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
–Zora Lin, BTW reporter
What happened
Microsoft blamed Delta Air Lines on Tuesday for its dayslong struggle to recover from a global cyber outage that led it to cancel more than 6,000 flights.
A software update last month by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike triggered system problems for Microsoft customers, including many airlines. But disruptions subsided the next day at other major U.S. carriers while persisting at Delta.
Microsoft said its preliminary review suggested that Delta, unlike its competitors, apparently had not modernised its IT infrastructure.
Microsoft’s lawyer, Mark Cheffo, said in a letter that the airline’s comments were “incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation.” Schaefer said Microsoft’s software was not the cause of the CrowdStrike incident, but the tech giant immediately offered to assist Delta for free. He added that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Bastian but never got a response.
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Why it’s important
This incident highlights the critical importance of cyber security in modern aviation operations. Network outages not only affect the daily operations of airlines, but can also have a serious impact on the safety and travel experience of passengers.
The CrowdStrike incident also serves as an important reminder to the industry that airlines and other businesses must prioritise the modernisation and security of their IT systems against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
In the long term, this incident may prompt more airlines and enterprises to invest more resources in IT infrastructure upgrades and cybersecurity protection. This helps to improve the enterprise’s own anti-risk ability, but also has a positive significance for the improvement of the network security level of the entire industry.
