5 Companies That Had A Rough Week
The Week Ending Feb. 16
Topping this week's roundup of those having a rough week is Xerox, which faces another legal obstacle for its proposed acquisition deal with Fujifilm.
Also making the list this week are Atos, whose systems were reportedly hacked before a cyberattack at the Winter Olympics; Huawei, whose efforts to increase smartphone sales in the U.S. were undercut by intelligence agency officials; FedEx, for leaving customer documents exposed on an unsecured AWS S3 server; and Apple employees, who are reportedly having difficulty safely navigating the company's new headquarters building.
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.
Major Xerox Investor Sues To Block Fujifilm Deal, Alleging Fraud And Breach Of Fiduciary Duty
Xerox continues to face opposition to its plan for Fujifilms Holdings to acquire a 50.1 percent majority stake in the printer and copier manufacturer. This week Darwin Deason, Xerox's third-largest individual shareholder, filed a lawsuit in an effort to halt the deal.
Deason's lawsuit was filed against Xerox, the company's board of directors, former CEO Ursula Burns and Fujifilm. The suit charges that the Fujifilm deal is the result of a "lock-up" agreement made between the two companies in 2001 that was "fraudulently concealed" from investors.
Xerox responded that Deason's charges are without merit and the company will contest them in court.
The Xerox-Fujifilm deal also faces opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn, another major Xerox shareholder.
Winter Olympics Solution Provider Atos Reportedly Hacked Before Start Of Games
Paris, France-based solution provider Atos, which is hosting the cloud IT infrastructure for the Pyeonchang, South Korea, Winter Olympics, likely had its computer systems penetrated late last year by the hackers who carried out a cyberattack during last week's opening ceremony.
Samples of the Olympic Destroyer malware deployed Friday, Feb. 2, the day of the opening ceremony, carry indications that hackers had gained access to Atos systems since at least December, and possibly earlier.
The official Winter Olympics website was down for several hours on Feb. 2, disrupting ticket sales and downloads during the opening ceremony. Local Wi-Fi networks near the Olympic site were also reportedly down for a time.
Atos has confirmed the cyberattack and said it is investigating.
U.S. Law Enforcement, Intelligence Agencies Warn Against Buying Huawei Phones
Huawei's efforts to break into the U.S. smartphone market took a serious hit this week when the directors of the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and several other intelligence agencies warned Americans against buying Huawei smartphones.
The officials' comments came during a meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to a story by CNBC. They also warned against buying phones from ZTE, which, like Huawei, is a Chinese electronics manufacturer.
U.S. government agencies and lawmakers have voiced concerns about Huawei's allegedly having ties to Chinese espionage efforts, an issue that has dogged the company and its efforts to expand in the U.S.
Huawei was reported to have had a smartphone distribution deal with AT&T, but the carrier reportedly backed out of the plan because of U.S. government concerns.
FedEx Exposes Customer Data Through Misconfigured AWS Storage Server
Shipping company FedEx left more than 119,000 scanned documents, including passports and drivers licenses, exposed on a misconfigured Amazon Web Services S3 storage server without even a password protecting the data.
The documents came to FedEx in 2014 when it acquired Bongo International, later renamed FedEx CrossBorder, which helps retailers sell products around the world by calculating shipping and duty calculations and currency conversions, according to a SiliconAngle story.
Security analyst firm Kromtech discovered the unsecured data, according to TechRepublic, which also included civilian and military identification cards, credit cards, bills and resumes. The exposed data ranged from 2008 to 2015.
Report: Apple Employees Running Into Glass Walls In New Headquarters Building
Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., is widely regarded as an architectural wonder. But a report out this week says the massive building has a flaw: Employees have been walking into the glass walls that are a signature aspect of its design.
The building is ringed by 45-foot tall curved panes of glass, according to a Bloomberg story, while the interior and its "pod" work spaces are also largely composed of glass walls. What's more, in an ironic twist, Apple employees walking about the building are often distracted because they are using their iPhones.
The result has been repeated cases of Apple employees walking into glass walls, the Bloomberg story said, citing "people familiar with the incidents." Some of the walls have markings to identify the glass, but the story said sticky notes put on walls by some employees have been removed because they detract from the design.