5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Sept. 23

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week was Yahoo, which acknowledged that 500 million or more customer accounts had been compromised in a cyberattack, possibly by state-sponsored hackers.

Also making the list were Rimini Street, which lost the latest round in a long-running legal battle with Oracle; the latest cost-cutting efforts at Dimension Data that hit manager bonuses; a call by a British consumer group for Microsoft to compensate consumers for Windows 10-related headaches; and Lenovo's efforts to convince skeptics that problems installing Linux on Lenovo laptops are not a Lenovo-Microsoft conspiracy.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown of companies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves – or just had good luck – check out this week's 5 Companies That Came To Win roundup.

More Than 500 Million Yahoo User Accounts Impacted In Massive Security Breach

Yahoo confirmed this week that a large-scale data breach the internet giant became aware of earlier this summer compromised "at least" 500 million user accounts – more than double the 200 million accounts originally thought to have been affected.

A security breach of more than 500 million accounts would qualify the Yahoo hack as the biggest of all time.

On Thursday Yahoo said that it believed a state-sponsored actor carried out the attack. The security breach exposed certain user account information including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, passwords and, in some cases, encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. Yahoo doesn't believe that bank account and payment card data was stolen.

Rimini Street Loses Latest Round In Oracle Court Case

The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted Oracle's request for an injunction against Rimini Street prohibiting the third-party software support provider from accessing Oracle software. Oracle has argued in the long-running legal battle that Rimini Street's support services constitute copyright infringement of Oracle software.

The judge also ordered Rimini Street and CEO Seth Ravin to pay Oracle $46 million in attorneys' fees and costs. That's on top of the $50 million in damages a jury ordered Rimini Street to pay Oracle last year.

Rimini Street, based in Las Vegas, issued a lengthy statement saying that it changed its business processes in 2014 to comply with court orders. The company said it also plans to appeal the latest damages and injunction awards.

Cost-Cutting At Dimension Data Hits Manager Bonuses

Dimension Data continues to struggle to reduce its expenses. This week sources told CRN that the company has told some company managers that they would no longer receive short-term incentive bonuses – a major development given that the bonuses account for a significant portion of the financial compensation for some employees.

One source said the cutbacks have prompted some managers to leave the company.

The reported bonus cutbacks come on the heels of reports that in the first six months of this year the solution provider had initiated layoffs in departments throughout the company, including in engineering, sales and customer service, in an effort to cut costs.

Consumer Group Calls On Microsoft To Compensate Users For Windows 10 Upgrade Problems

Which?, a British consumer rights watchdog, this week called on Microsoft to compensate Windows 10 users for PC downtime and other hassles created by hardware and software compatibility issues and for "forcefully" installing Windows 10 "without consent" on some users' PCs.

The challenge, issued in a Which? Blog post, listed a number of problems caused by the Windows 10 upgrade including peripheral devices that no longer work with the PC, deleted files and data, software compatibility problems, and significant PC slowdowns or failures that required repairs.

"With a range of problems caused by the update, many feel that Windows 10 has been foisted on them like an unwelcome house guest," the blog said.

It called on Microsoft to "honour the rights of consumers" affected by the Windows 10 upgrade, including paying compensation where due under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The blog said Microsoft also should raise the profile of its Windows 10 customer support services.

Lenovo Denies Reports It Deliberately Blocks Linux On Windows 10 Laptops

Reports surfaced this week on Reddit and Lenovo's own forums that attempts to install Linux on the Lenovo Yoga 900 13ISK2 and Ideapad 710S failed, leading some to charge that Lenovo and Microsoft were conspiring to prevent the laptop owners from using Linux on their devices.

The controversy grew worse when someone claiming to be a "Lenovo product expert" (accompanied by a Lenovo logo) said on a Best Buy website that "This system has a Signature Edition of Windows 10 installed. It is locked per our agreement with Microsoft," according to TechRepublic, which first reported the kerfuffle.

Lenovo issued denials that it deliberately blocked Linux installations and blamed the problem on a driver issue, specifically a recent change to how the solid-state drive is set up on Windows 10 Signature Edition-branded machines.

But at week's end some Reddit commentators weren't convinced.