IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Honolulu Staff Impacted by Cyber Attack on Payroll System

A ransomware attack on payroll service vendor the Ultimate Kronos Group may have compromised data for employees of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services and the city's Board of Water Supply.

City of Honolulu
Shutterstock
(TNS) — The time-keeping system Honolulu Emergency Medical Services uses for employees was hit by a ransomware attack Sunday night, the third cyber intrusion of county networks since Thursday.

EMS uses the same third-party system from the company Kronos as the Honolulu Board of Water Supply uses.

The EMS' Kronos payroll system remains inoperable and supervisors are using manual time-keeping forms for employees.

"No employee, customer, or patient information has been compromised at this time, " Tim Sakahara, communications director for Mayor Rick Blangiardi, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Bloomberg News reports that Kronos, a provider of payroll and time-sheet software, says it suffered a ransomware attack that may force its systems offline for weeks.


PREVIOUS COVERAGE


The Board of Water Supply today advised its employees to check their credit reports and be aware of any unusual or unauthorized activity after a contractor that the agency uses was hit by a ransomware attack over the weekend, the second cyber attack to affect city operations in a the past week.

BWS officials said their customers are not affected by the incident.

On Sunday evening, the board was notified of a cybersecurity attack disrupting Kronos Private Cloud services, which provides BWS' timekeeping system. Board officials said they immediately shut off all access to its Kronos Workforce system.

They said Kronos' parent company UKG is investigating this issue.

Last week, a cyber attack struck Oahu Transit Services' systems, disabling the agencies online services for TheBus, TheHandi-Van, TheBus app and its Holo card system. The OTS is still working on getting those services back online.

©2021 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.