Kronos Ransomware Attack May Affect Many Employees’ Pay Method

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Kronos Ransomware Attack Overview:

• Why: Kronos is addressing the ransomware attack and says it may take several weeks to restore the system availability.
• Who: Dozens of companies and organizations have reportedly been affected by a ransomware attack on the Kronos Private Cloud, and the systems may remain offline for weeks.
• Where: The Kronos hack affects organizations and employees throughout the United States.

Ultimate Kronos Group, a human resources management company, has reportedly experienced a ransomware attack that may cause its systems to remain offline for weeks.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to track the hours worked by each employee and pay them promptly. With the Kronos Private Cloud programs potentially being inaccessible for several weeks, employers are scrambling to come up with solutions that will allow them to accurately track employee hours and pay them on time.

As a result of the Kronos hack, companies that use the payroll software are looking into alternative options to make sure their employees are paid. In some cases, employers will issue paper checks instead of direct deposit. 

Some of the major companies that rely on Kronos payroll software include Puma, Tesla and the YMCA. 

Kronos Cloud Users Should Temporarily Seek Alternatives, Company Says

The Kronos Workforce Central tools were designed to help industries manage their workforce using a cloud platform. The platform includes a suite of various workforce management tools for time sheets, absence management, scheduling and other tools.

Kronos has advised its clients to seek alternative workforce management solutions until it is able to fix the issues caused by the ransomware attack. In some cases, employers may choose to issue paychecks based on an employer’s scheduled hours rather than actual hours worked and issue a corrected payment later on. 

On Dec. 13, Kronos published a blog post on its website updating customers about the ransomware attack, which the company reportedly discovered on Dec. 11. 

The Kronos ransomware attack allegedly impacts the Kronos Private Cloud, including the following services: UKG Workforce Central, UKG TeleStaff, Healthcare Extensions and Banking Scheduling Solutions.

“While we are working diligently, our Kronos Private Cloud solutions are currently unavailable,” Kronos wrote in the blog post. “Given that it may take up to several weeks to restore system availability, we strongly recommend that you evaluate and implement alternative business continuity protocols related to the affected UKG solutions.”

On Dec. 16, Kronos announced that it had created an incident resource hub to communicate with customers affected by the ransomware attack. Users must have an account to access the resource hub. 

Was your company’s payroll affected by the Kronos ransomware attack? If you are owed any unpaid wages or you were paid late, you may be able to join a Kronos Ransomware Payroll Violations class action lawsuit investigation (links to paid attorney advertising). 

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