Delta sues CrowdStrike after widespread IT outage

(cnbc.com)

41 points | by belter a day ago ago

11 comments

  • mrinfinitiesx a day ago

    Due to HIPAA how many hospitals and patients got screwed because of this and we don't hear about it? No QA/QC and push straight to production? All to check a check-list for 'compliance' how about 'Software passed QA by X Y Z engineers and here are their notes:' transparency if they're running on ....the world's computers.

    Makes too much sense to do that.

    Where's the class action law suit for all the people who missed their flights, meetings, family? I've seen stories of people's families last moments being missed as an emergency flight was booked and they got trapped at an airport. How many people were stranded in weird places they weren't familiar with and couldn't afford a hotel and weren't accommodated, or were but ended up being stuck in a place with the absolute need to be on the next flight out?

    Crowdstrike doesn't care. We should.

    https://devopschecklist.com/

    • belter a day ago

      Agree that Crowdstrike does not care, but just went through every single item on that Devops checklist and it's missing what would have prevented this issue. :-)

      • mrinfinitiesx a day ago

        'Testing' -> Our release and deployment automation is environment agnostic.

  • lysace a day ago

    This seems like a valid lawsuit, to be honest.

    Some background on the numbers: Delta is suing for $0.5B in damages. CrowdStrike yearly revenue for FY2024 is $3.4B.

  • zugi a day ago

    This will get ugly:

    > Other airlines recovered more quickly than Atlanta-based Delta... "Delta’s claims ... reflect a desperate attempt to shift blame for its slow recovery away from its failure to modernize its antiquated IT infrastructure"

    CrowdStrike will use discovery for this case to get information about Delta's IT policies and practices and make them look bad. This was a huge blunder on CrowdStrike's part, but they'll point out that other companies were back up and running in a day or two.

    Should be entertaining for us all to watch.

  • musicale a day ago

    I'm surprised it has taken this long.

    And disappointed that people are still using crowdstrike.

    It's not just crowdstrike of course - any piece of "security" software that operates in the same way will introduce similar risks to reliability and security.

  • nine_zeros a day ago

    Seems like a valid lawsuit. Saas companies should invest in maintenance, rollouts, slow feature development. Smashing features on customers should be discouraged and costly - like a lawsuit.

    • lesuorac a day ago

      If customers don't want features smashed on them they should choose a vendor that claims not to do that.

      Instead, Crowdstrike was quite clear that no computer systems that need to be reliable should have their software installed on it. While, I do think it's not great to "move fast and break things"; it's certainly a valid corporate approach in many markets. Delta should have done better vendor selection.

      • nine_zeros 20 hours ago

        > Instead, Crowdstrike was quite clear that no computer systems that need to be reliable should have their software installed on it.

        It is true that Crowdstrike added a disclaimer. But it is also true that adding a disclaimer doesn't absolve someone from all responsibilities.

        As an example, you can put a bold disclaimer on your car saying, "Do not drive around me as you can get killed". But this will not absolve you of 1st degree murder when you kill someone.

        > it's certainly a valid corporate approach in many markets.

        It is a valid approach in many markets - but not all.

        Which is why I say that Crowdstrike needs to be sued so as to blast SaaS companies that don't provide reliability into lower market caps. Essentially, unreliable companies don't deserve such market caps - and this is the best thing for consumers.

        • lesuorac 5 hours ago

          If most consumers do not need the reliability feature then companies that don't offer reliability deserve to be high market cap. They will have a lot of revenue and likely little debt which is deservent of high market cap.

          For consumers that do require reliability, they should be ensuring that they're purchasing it. Crowdstrike did not claim to be high reliability. If they had, then sure they're being fraudulent. Instead, Crowdstrike operated as described and for that I think no lawsuit is valid.

          ----

          Imagine you hired a plumber and they duct taped your pipes together.

          Are you going to sue the duct tape company? Especially when the duct tape company never claimed to be a watertight seal or to use it in plumbing purposes?

          • nine_zeros 2 hours ago

            > If most consumers do not need the reliability feature then companies that don't offer reliability deserve to be high market cap

            This is exactly the question of this lawsuit. Turns out, customers want this reliability and are willing to pay lawyers for a suit to get compensation for lack of said reliability.

            > Are you going to sue the duct tape company?

            No. But I will sue them if they claim to work for a specific purpose and then put an asterisk that apparently takes away liability.

            Would you not sue a car company that claims to drive people around with all safety bells and whistles, but then puts an asterisk that takes away manufacturers liability if the seatbelt stops working suddenly?