Five stories not to miss

1 Microsoft patches XP

Microsoft was forced to update its out-of-service Windows XP twice in the wake of leaked US malware tools being put to use by hackers. Tools initially developed by the NSA were deployed by hackers to launch a ransomware attack called WannaCry, which locked machines across the globe and proved particularly vexing for the NHS (see p36).

2 Power failure sparks BA meltdown

British Airways is facing an £80 million bill after a systems failure grounded flights and left 75,000 passengers stranded. BA blamed the meltdown on a contract engineer switching off an uninterruptible power supply, a power failure and damaged servers that were knocked out when power was restored.

3 Uber in sexual harassment car crash

Taxi app Uber suffered another PR pile-up as the company’s culture came under scrutiny. Twenty employees were fired over sexual harassment allegations, CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down over a report into the firm’s toxic culture, while a male board member stepped down after making a sexist joke at an anti-harassment meeting.

4 Court plunders Pirate Bay

Pirate Bay has been ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice of the EU after a seven-year battle through the courts. According to the ECJ, Pirate Bay “plays an essential role in making those works available,” even if it doesn’t host the material. The ruling could see BitTorrent indexing sites across Europe blocked.

5 Apple unclear on the Mac Pro’s future

Apple has left Mac Pro users confused over whether there is a new version of the top-end machine on the way, as the firm suggested in April. Apple says that its newly unveiled, $4,999 iMac Pro will be the most powerful Mac ever when it arrives in December, but the machine is by no means a direct replacement for the expandable Mac Pro, of which there was no mention during its developer conference.