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UKG Security Incident

12/12/2021 1380 days ago Resolved

Incident Overview

Situation Description

The University of Utah and University of Utah Health faced a crisis when UKG announced a security breach due to a ransomware attack impacting approximately 2,000 customers, causing payroll systems to go offline.

Event Types

Ransomware Malware / Destructive Attack Technical Failure / Outage

Industry Sector

Education

Geographic Scope

Global

Response Actions

Isolated Compromised Systems Took Systems or Services Offline Restored Systems from Secure Backups Conducted Threat Hunting & Eradication Managed Public Narrative & Crisis Communications Revised Incident Response Plan Hardened Attack Surface Conducted Employee Training

Impact Analysis

Event Types (3 identified)

Ransomware Malware / Destructive Attack Technical Failure / Outage

Financial Impact

$0 USD

Records Affected

Data Types Compromised

N/A

Primary Impacts

Operational Disruption Financial Loss

Key Decisions Made

A university-wide task force was formed to assess potential impacts on employees and operations.; A collaborative team of software developers created two interim web applications, UTime and an employee performance management (EPM) timekeeping application, to track hours and pay codes.; The university's HR, Finance, and IT teams worked to ensure employees continued to receive their paychecks despite the outage.

Technical Analysis

Attack Method

Unknown

Additional Information

UKG outage remediation teams praised for response August 31, 2022 Jesse Drake If your instincts tell you to play it safe during difficult times, theres plenty of evidence to suggest that extreme adversity breeds innovation. The Space Race was a moonshot for scientific progress. Microsoft was founded during an economic downturn. More than 800 craft distillers across the U.S. made hand sanitizer during the first wave of the pandemic. Rather than hunker down when times get tough, consider heeding Machiavellis advice: Never waste the opportunities offered by a good crisis. Steve Hess, University of Utah chief information officer The University of Utah and University of Utah Health arguably faced a good crisis on December 12, 2021, when the Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG, formerly known as Kronos) announced it had discovered a security breach . A ransomware attack had impacted approximately 2,000 UKG customers that use the companys Kronos Private Cloud product, taking payroll systems around the world offline. This unprecedented situation required considerable time, energy, and resources, but we responded with tremendous resiliency, Chief Information Officer Steve Hess , Ph.D., said. Though we constantly strive to minimize vulnerabilities in our systems, including when relying on external vendors for critical services, managing risk is part of keeping an entity the size of the University of Utah in operation. Im incredibly proud of how our HR, Finance, and IT teams responded so that U employees could continue to receive their paychecks, especially during the holidays. Soon after news of the cyberattack on UKG broke, a university-wide task force assessed potential impacts on U employees and...

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Quick Facts

Company:: UKG
Date:: 12/12/2021
Status:: Resolved
Decision Maker:: Steve Hess
Position:: Chief Information Officer
Published:: 31/08/2022

Source Information

Original Query

long-term operational impact of Kronos outage on hospital payroll systems

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Timeline

Information Published

31/08/2022

Incident Occurred

12/12/2021 (1380 days ago)

Status: Resolved

Estimated resolution based on age

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