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CRN’s 2021 editorial ranking named Kaseya, Microsoft, Accenture, Dell, VMware, CompuCom, Amazon Web Services, Splunk, Citrix and Nvidia among the year’s most controversial technology companies. Its list mixed cyberattacks and service disruption with channel disputes, executive changes, layoffs and a proposed acquisition; CRN did not publish a common scoring method for comparing them.
The ranking is a historical snapshot, not a measure of which companies are most controversial today. The incidents, estimates and allegations below are attributed to CRN and the sources it quoted; they should not be read as independent verification or as a complete account of later outcomes.
How to read CRN’s 2021 ranking
The order below follows CRN’s editorial list, from No. 10 to No. 1. The entries cover different kinds of controversy, so the ranking does not establish that one incident was objectively more serious than another. In particular, reported allegations, third-party estimates and company statements are distinguished where CRN’s account allows.
The 10 companies CRN ranked
10. Nvidia: proposed Arm acquisition
CRN reported that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued on December 2, 2021, to block Nvidia’s proposed $40 billion acquisition of Arm. The FTC alleged the combination could harm competition in advanced driver assistance systems for passenger cars, data processing units and Arm-based CPUs for cloud providers. That was the regulator’s position in the litigation, not a court finding. The ranking describes the proposed deal and lawsuit at the time; it does not establish the case’s eventual outcome.
#1 Best Overall
FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova summarized the agency’s rationale: “The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies.”
9. Citrix: leadership change, layoffs and sale speculation
CRN associated Citrix’s controversy with CEO David Henshall’s departure and the appointment of Bob Calderoni as interim CEO, alongside layoffs. At year-end, CRN also reported that Elliott Management and Vista Equity Partners might take the company private. The latter was reported as a possibility, not a completed transaction.
8. Splunk: unexpected CEO resignation
CEO Doug Merritt resigned unexpectedly in November 2021, less than five months after Silver Lake invested $1 billion in Splunk. CRN reported that the stock fell nearly 19 percent on the day of the resignation and that board chairman Graham Smith was later named interim CEO. The stock movement is a historical report, not a current valuation or a measure of the company today.
7. Amazon Web Services: Northern Virginia outage
CRN covered a December 7 outage in AWS’s Northern Virginia region, US-EAST-1. ThousandEyes, as quoted by CRN, said the disruption lasted more than eight hours and affected both consumer and business services. The entry illustrates how disruption in a cloud region can ripple into services that customers rely on, even when the visible service belongs to another company.
Rank #3
6. CompuCom: ransomware incident and announced sale
Office Depot subsidiary CompuCom disclosed in March 2021 that a DarkSide ransomware attack had affected some service delivery, according to CRN. On December 31, CRN reported the company announced a sale to an affiliate of Variant Equity Advisors for up to $305 million. The sale value was reported as “up to” that amount, not as a price necessarily paid in full.
5. VMware: Log4j and vulnerable vCenter servers
CRN included VMware amid concerns about active exploitation related to the Log4j vulnerability, including Conti activity against vulnerable vCenter servers. The article quoted VMware warning that a malicious actor with network access could gain full control of an impacted system. This describes the risk associated with vulnerable systems; it does not mean every VMware customer was affected.
4. Dell: partner concerns about channel conflict
CRN reported solution-provider concerns about Dell’s channel strategy, including cuts to partner account management and disputes over direct versus partner sales across PCs and infrastructure. These were concerns attributed to partners and reporting, not evidence that every Dell deal involved conflict or that all partners experienced the same effects.
3. Accenture: ransomware incident and reported demand
Accenture confirmed a ransomware incident in August 2021 and said it contained the matter, isolated affected servers, and saw no impact on operations or clients, CRN reported. The reported demand of $50 million for more than 6 TB of data came from a cybersecurity firm and a dark-web monitoring firm, rather than from a figure Accenture confirmed.
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2. Microsoft: Exchange attacks and partner backlash
CRN highlighted attacks on on-premises Exchange servers, criticism of Microsoft’s security response, and partner backlash to a Microsoft 365 fee increase. It reported an estimate that 30,000 U.S. organizations and 60,000 organizations globally were affected by the Exchange attack. Those figures are estimates relayed by CRN, not a count independently established here.
1. Kaseya: REvil attack on VSA
CRN ranked Kaseya first after a REvil ransomware attack targeted the on-premises VSA remote monitoring and management tool over the July 4 weekend. CRN reported that more than 60 managed service providers (MSPs) and 1,500 end customers were compromised; the attackers demanded $70 million. It also reported that more than 36,000 MSPs were without access to VSA for nearly ten days while Kaseya worked on a patch. These are historical impact figures reported by CRN.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the list says about 2021 technology controversies
Cybersecurity incidents anchor several entries: Kaseya, Microsoft, VMware, CompuCom and Accenture. But CRN’s ranking was broader than a list of breaches. AWS represented service disruption; Dell represented partner concerns about selling through direct and channel routes; Splunk and Citrix reflected leadership or workforce turmoil; and Nvidia’s entry concerned a contested acquisition proposal.
Because the controversies differ in nature—and CRN did not state a shared scoring framework—the ranking is best used as a guide to prominent technology-business disputes and disruptions that drew attention in 2021, not as an objective league table of harm or corporate conduct.
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