Ransomware attack takes down HR and payroll company software, potentially for several weeks

If your company uses Kronos, you might not be able to use it to clock in and out of work—for a few weeks.

HR management company Ultimate Kronos Group has been hit by a ransomware attack that's hobbling its clients access to processing payroll, handling time sheets and managing their workforce.

Also hit by the attack is Kronos Workforce Central, which contains a suite of workforce management solutions for time and attendance, absence management, scheduling and more. The Kronos Workforce Central tools were created specifically for industries to help manage their entire workforce on a cloud platform.

For now, Kronos recommends its clients looks into alternatives for workforce management while it navigates this situation.

High profile clients using Kronos systems include Tesla, Puma and the YMCA.

Kronos first became aware of unusual activity on Kronos Private Cloud on Saturday evening. The company wrote in a blog post on Sunday that it was likely the issue may require several weeks to resolve. Kronos so far has not released a restoration time.

Other services impacted by the hack include Healthcare Extensions, UKG TeleStaff and Banking Scheduling Solutions, according to a post by Bob Hughes, executive vice president at UKG.

At this time, Kronos is not aware of an impact to UKG Pro, UKG Ready, UKG Dimensions or any other UKG products or solutions, which are housed in separate environments and not in the Kronos Private Cloud.

The company plans to issue another update in the next 24 hours.