Kronos Software May Be Unavailable After Being Hit by a Ransomware Attack

The company said that it could take weeks to go online again.
Ameya Paleja
Another ransomware attack hits a U.S. company.suebsiri/iStock

Kronos, a payroll and time management software, offered by the Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG) has been hit by a ransomware attack that could see part of services being unavailable to customers for weeks, Bloomberg reported.

In addition to the payroll software, UKG offers a suite of other products, all operating on the cloud, for companies to manage timesheets and their workforce. Companies like Tesla, Puma, Kum & Go convenience stores, MGM International Resorts, and the City of Cleveland are a few of UKG's customers, Bloomberg reported. According to its website, it also offers similar services in the healthcare and banking verticals.

In a blog post, UKG said that it had noted unusual activity that affected its offerings as early as Saturday, December 11, upon which the issue was further investigated and looked for ways to mitigate it. 

It has since been determined that the Kronos Private Cloud (KPC) where the company hosts a suite of its product offerings has been infected with ransomware. The company is still investigating the issue to determine the nature and the scope of the incident, Executive Vice President Bob Hughes wrote in the post.

The services that are affected include UKG Workforce Central, UKG TeleStaff, Healthcare Extensions, and Banking Scheduling Solutions. However, UKG Pro, UKG Ready, UKG Dimensions, and some other services that are not hosted on the KPC but in separate environments remain unaffected, the company said. 

Even as the company works to resolve the issue, it expects the system restoration to take a few weeks and has urged its customers to implement their business continuity protocols. UKG has also notified the authorities and is working diligently to remediate the situation. An update is expected later today. 

Kronos hasn't provided any details of the ransomware attack or if it was related to the Log4Shell vulnerability that was reported over the weekend, Bloomberg reported.

Ransomware attacks on U.S. establishments are on the rise across enterprise sizes

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