5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending March 11

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week is Systemax, which switched CEOs amid declining sales and an ongoing restructuring.

Also making the list were Unisys, whose stock plunged after an unsecured debt offering; Violin Memory, for its layoffs, plunging sales and inability to find a buyer; Mac users, who discovered they are not immune from ransomware attacks; and a Florida cancer clinic and its patients, who were the victims of a security breach.

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 Five Companies That Came To Win roundup.

Restructuring Systemax Changes CEOs

Richard Leeds is being moved out of the CEO job at Systemax and Larry Reinhold, currently CFO at the solution provider and IT retailer, is being elevated to president and CEO.

The shift, announced Tuesday, comes as Systemax is struggling under the weight of falling sales, restructuring and layoffs. Also this week, the company announced that sales for all of 2015 fell more than 13 percent, to $1.85 billion. All this comes after the company sold off certain assets of its North American Technology Group, including the coveted TigerDirect brand, in November.

While Leeds will serve as executive chairman, the change effectively removes day-to-day control of Systemax from the Leeds family, who founded the company in 1949.

Unisys Stock Plunges After Debt Offering

More challenges for struggling Unisys. The price of the company's stock tumbled 28 percent Wednesday, one day after the solution provider said it would seek $150 million in unsecured debt financing to help cover cost-reduction and savings initiatives, whittle down its current debt burden and invest in new services and technologies.

The drop in Unisys' stock price was seen as a reaction to the size of the debt offering and the fact that Unisys might not get the best terms for the financing because the debt will be unsecured.

Unisys has struggled for some time to turn itself around. For 2015 the company reported a $109.9 million loss on a 10 percent drop in revenue to just over $3 billion.

Violin Memory Q4: Falling Sales, Layoffs And No Buyer

Violin Memory announced its fiscal fourth quarter (ended Jan. 31) results this week and the news wasn't good. Revenue of $10.9 million was little more than half the $20.5 million of the same period one year earlier and the flash memory system maker reported a $25.5 million loss.

While the company had been looking for a buyer, the company said it received no offers -- meaning the company is on its own to turn itself around. Part of that effort includes the layoff of about 25 percent of its staff -- also announced this week.

Violin Memory's stock has been below $1 per share for quite a while. But Friday morning the stock price plunged an additional 37 percent, to 44 cents per share, indicating that investors aren't particularly hopeful for a quick turnaround.

Mac Users Find They Are Not Immune From Ransomware

Mac users have found themselves targeted with the first known Mac ransomware attack, evidence that their Apple computers may not be the secure islands they thought they were.

Ransomware encrypts data on infected devices and forces users to pay a ransom via digital currency to retrieve their data. In this case the ransomware, dubbed "KeRanger," infected a piece of open-source BitTorrent software known as Transmission. When users download the software, the ransomware is installed on their machine

Palo Alto Networks reported the KeRanger ransomware issue to Apple, which revoked the certificate for the Transmission software and updated its antivirus software.

Florida Cancer Clinic Hacked, 2.2 Million Patient Records Exposed

A Florida-based cancer treatment center is warning 2.2 million patients that patient health records and Social Security numbers were stolen in a cyberattack in October.

The Fort Myers-based center, 21st Century Oncology Holdings, said the stolen data included patient names, physician names, diagnosis and treatment data and insurance information, according to Threatpost.com. The clinic said it couldn't notify patients right away because of an FBI investigation.

Cybercriminals appear to be increasingly targeting hospitals and other health-care providers. Last month Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid $17,000 in ransomware to an attacker who injected malware into the facility's computer network that kept employees from accessing electronic health records and electronic communications.