KUALA LUMPUR – Three air travellers are taking legal action against cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike Holdings Inc over its alleged negligence during last month’s massive global tech outage.
According to Reuters, the proposed class action suit was filed in a Texas federal court, with the three fliers seeking compensatory and punitive damages for those whose flights were disrupted.
Pinning the blame on CrowdStrike for supposedly failing to properly test and deploy its software, the plaintiffs reportedly said travellers spent hundreds of dollars on lodging, meals, and alternative travel as they scrambled to get to their destinations once flights were grounded.
Some, they said, were forced to miss work or suffered health problems from having to sleep on airport floors.
They also pointed to Southwest Airlines and other carriers’ technology-related flight groundings in 2023 as incidents that should have made CrowdStrike’s outage “entirely foreseeable.”
Responding to the matter, CrowdStrike said in a statement: “We believe this case lacks merit, and we will vigorously defend the company.”
Last month, CrowdStrike was reportedly sued by its shareholders, who accused the company of defrauding them by concealing how its inadequate software testing could lead to the global outage.
The incident affected key sectors including airlines, banks, hospitals, and emergency lines.
The shareholders argued that CrowdStrike’s assurances about its technology were materially false and misleading, with the company’s share price dropping 32% in 12 days after the incident.
Delta Air Lines had also said it is considering hauling CrowdStrike to court after the Atlanta-based carrier had to cancel more than 6,000 flights at a cost of about US$500 million (RM2.28 billion).
However, CrowdStrike has since said it was neither grossly negligent nor at fault for Delta’s problems, claiming that the airline had ignored the cybersecurity company’s offers for assistance.
Delta is currently being probed by the United States Department of Transportation over its extended recovery time compared to other airlines.
On July 19, a CrowdStrike update for Windows host systems caused widespread service disruptions, affecting transportation services, banks, and media broadcasting globally, among other key sectors.
CrowdStrike explained that the incident was not a result of a cyberattack, but a content configuration update that affected the Falcon Sensor, which protects key risk areas and the Windows operating system. – August 6, 2024