Kronos hacked: services provider Kronos has been hit by ransomware and revealed that attackers may have gained access to important customer information.
Kronos is a workforce and human resources management provider that provides cloud-for managing timekeeping, payroll, employee benefits, and more. In 2020, Kronos merged with Ultimate Software to form a new company called Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG).
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Kronos management software is used by dozens of large corporations, local governments and businesses, including: Tesla, Temple University, Winthrop University Hospital, Clemson University and the British supermarket chain Sainsburys.
Ultimate Kronos Group has revealed that UKG solutions using its “Kronos Private Cloud” are unavailable due to a ransomware attack that took place over the weekend. The company said that core service will be down for “several weeks” and urged customers to “evaluate and implement alternative protocols related to affected UKG solutions.”
According to UKG, the Kronos Private Cloud “houses solutions used by a limited number of our customers.”
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The company also said that it recognizes that this issue is very serious and that it is using all its means and resources to assist customers who may be affected. It also said that it is working to immediately restore the services that have been affected.
Kronos hacked: Ransomware attack disrupts key services
On Saturday night, Ultimate Kronos Group posted a message on the Kronos community message board, explaining that staff had noticed “unusual activity affecting UKG solutions that use the Kronos Private Cloud.” This private cloud hosts data for UKG Workforce Central, UKG TeleStaff, Healthcare Extensions and Banking Scheduling Solutions.
“At this time, we have not seen an impact on UKG Pro, UKG Ready, UKG Dimensions, or any other UKG products or solutions,” said Kronos Executive Vice President Bob Hughes.
The attack caused an uproar online, with some cyber experts reporting multiple messages from companies unable to process payroll since Monday morning.
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Other sources have reported that the outage due to the Kronos ransomware attack will affect payroll processing throughout the week, which is a big deal considering how close Christmas is. Many companies are already looking for alternatives.
Source: ZDNet
