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Investor Lawsuit Over CrowdStrike Outage Dismissed

A judge has ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate intent to defraud investors. 

CrowdStrike outage

A federal judge in Austin, Texas, has dismissed a major securities class action lawsuit against CrowdStrike over the highly disruptive outage caused by a software update in July 2024.

Millions of Windows devices worldwide crashed after the cybersecurity giant pushed an insufficiently tested update to endpoints running its software. The incident led to severe disruptions at airports, banks, media outlets, and hospitals.

Just days after the incident, CrowdStrike investors announced plans to file a securities class action, alleging that the company made materially false and misleading statements and omissions about its product updates and their potential to cause major outages and pose a substantial reputational harm and legal risk. 

CrowdStrike announced on Wednesday that a judge has dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that shareholders failed to prove the cybersecurity firm intentionally defrauded them.

The judge instead noted that the plaintiffs were misleading and took CrowdStrike’s statements regarding its products out of context. 

“We appreciate the Court’s thoughtful consideration and decision to dismiss this case,” Cathleen Anderson, Chief Legal Officer at CrowdStrike, said in an emailed statement. 

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While the dismissal marks a significant legal victory for CrowdStrike, it does not resolve the company’s ongoing multi-million dollar dispute with Delta Air Lines.

Delta filed a lawsuit against the security firm in October 2024, alleging that the outage caused by the bad update resulted in more than $500 million in lost revenue and incident response expenses. 

Unlike the shareholder suit, which centered on intent to defraud the market, Delta’s litigation in Georgia focuses on claims of gross negligence and breach of contract.

A lawsuit filed against CrowdStrike by airline passengers was dismissed in June 2025. 

Related: Google Says Chinese ‘Lighthouse’ Phishing Kit Disrupted Following Lawsuit 

Related: NSO Ordered to Stop Hacking WhatsApp, but Damages Cut to $4 Million

Related: Arizona Attorney General Sues Chinese Online Retailer Temu Over Data Theft Claims

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is senior managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher before starting a career in journalism in 2011. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

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