5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending June 2

Topping this week's roundup of those having a rough week is an undisclosed number of sales representatives at printer maker Lexmark, which lost a U.S. Supreme Court case over refurbished ink cartridges.

Also making the list this week was Microsoft, for a botched release of a Windows 10 build that bricked some mobile devices; burrito restaurant chain Chipotle, for a widespread security breach; OneLogin, for its own security breach; and British Airways, which struggled to recover from a massive IT system failure.

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.

Lexmark Loses Supreme Court Case On Printer Cartridge Reuse Case

The U.S. Supreme Court gave its legal blessing this week to the practice of refurbishing printer ink cartridges, refilling them and reselling them. The decision was a loss for printer manufacturer Lexmark, which sued cartridge remanufacturer Impression Products, claiming that the practice violated Lexmark's patent rights.

Channel partners told CRN that the ruling offers them a mixed bag. Aside from clarifying the legality of the issue, the ruling could force manufacturers to lower printer prices instead of counting on making money from high-margin ink cartridges.

It could also lead to printer maintenance problems, warranty issues and other headaches for solution providers if refurbished cartridges damage printers.

But the case was a clear loss for Lexmark. The Supreme Court decision said the company's patent rights end the moment it sells the cartridges.

Microsoft Accidentally Releases Windows 10 Mobile Build That Bricks Devices

Microsoft has some explaining to do after the company accidentally released a new build of Windows 10 on Thursday that caused Windows 10 Mobile devices to enter a never-ending re-boot loop that makes the devices useless.

The release, Build 16212 for some PCs and mobile devices, was accidentally sent to participants in Windows Insider, the program that gives users early access to new versions of Windows 10, according to multiple published reports, including on mspoweruser.com and tomshardware.com.

Microsoft urged people not to install the build and apologized for the gaffe in a blog post. People with bricked devices have to reset them using the Windows Device Recovery Tool.

Chipotle Restaurant Chain Acknowledges Scale Of Security Breach

The Chipotle restaurant chain admitted that "most, but not all restaurants" may have been hit by a malware attack earlier this year that allowed hackers to steal credit card data from customers.

The attack occurred between March 24 and April 18 and Chipotle initially acknowledged the security breach April 25, according to a CNN Money story published this week.

But in a blog post last week, the company provided more information about the breach, including the type of malware used, and provided an extensive list of the restaurants that were affected. The CNN story quoted a Chipotle spokesman as saying that most, but not all, of the company's restaurants may have been hit by the attack.

British Airways Works To Recover From Massive System Failure

It took British Airways several days this week to recover from a massive IT system failure last weekend that caused the airline to cancel all its flights from busy London Heathrow and Gatwick airports Saturday, stranding some 75,000 passengers and generating lots of bad PR.

The airline blamed a power surge that knocked out its computer systems, disrupting flight operations, call centers and its website, according to a Reuters story.

The airline said that a power supply issue at a data center near Heathrow sparked the power surge, which in turn was so strong that it rendered backup systems ineffective, Reuters quoted Alex Cruz, the airline's chief executive, as saying.

The airline didn't return to full operation until Tuesday.

OneLogin Security Breach Compromises Customer Data

Chipotle wasn't the only company wrestling with a security breach this week. OneLogin, the service that lets users manage logins to websites and applications from a single platform, said that it suffered a security breach that compromised customer data, according to a report on the Krebs on Security website.

The breach also allowed the attackers to decrypt customer data, a development that could be extremely damaging for affected customers, the website said.

In a statement, OneLogin said the investigation is sill ongoing and the company is working with an independent security firm to determine how the breach occurred and verify the extent of the incident.