Ransomware Attack Impacting Denver Payroll Process

DENVER (CBS4)- CBS4 has learned that the City of Denver is addressing a ransomware attack on a cloud-based payroll system that has forced the City to enact contingency payroll plans. Julie Smith with Denver's Department of Finance confirmed that Ultimate Kronos Group, which has a contract with the City of Denver to track employee time and leave, experienced a ransomware attack on their system Dec. 12.

"Due to the Kronos outage, the city immediately, on Monday, Dec 13, implemented a backup documentation system to track city work hours, overtime, paid time off, etc.," said Smith. "And we have developed a system to ensure we deliver Overtime and Base pay for this December 24 check for all employees."

She went on to say the attack will not interrupt the delivery of city employee paychecks because the city uses a different system for payroll.

"Employees will continue to be paid per the city's regular cycle," she said.

But she said the city "may need to make adjustments to future paychecks to reflect any needed corrections. Employee pay is critical, especially this close to the holidays."

UKG issued a statement, UKG recently became aware of a ransomware incident that has disrupted the Kronos Private Cloud, which houses solutions used by a limited number of our customers. We took immediate action to investigate and mitigate the issue, have alerted our affected customers and informed the authorities, and are working with leading cybersecurity experts.

We recognize the seriousness of the issue and have mobilized all available resources to support our customers and are working diligently to restore the affected services.

CNN reported that the issue may extend beyond just payroll issues. The network said the City of Cleveland reported that Kronos alerted it that sensitive information, like employee names, addressses and the last four digits of social security numbers may have been stolen by the hackers.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.