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Approximately 4,500 customers of a payroll company in Honolulu were potentially affected by a ransomware attack that revealed social security numbers, dates of birth, customers’ full names, and bank account information.
In mid-February, Hawaii Payroll Services LLC discovered that its servers and databases had been breached by an unauthorized user.
The banned access to the servers that store company information came from February 15-16, likely by someone who âcould gain access to Hawaii Payroll’s systems through a compromised customer account and carry out a privilege escalation attack who did it Intruder made it possible to disable and remove security software â. and encrypt all data on Hawaii Payroll’s servers, âthe company said.
In response, the company announced that it had suspended all remote client access and asked its third party IT operations provider to assess the extent of the intrusion.
Letters were sent to people potentially affected by the attack in late May, but some were returned unopened and Hawaii Payroll Services is still trying to gain access to many of the files that it was locked on, company owner Michelle Wells-Nagamine said in an interview with the Honolulu Star Advertiser.
There have been no reports so far that the data is available on the darknet or has been used inappropriately, she said, and some of the encryption information has been made public.
“It’s certainly an impact (financial), but we have to deal with IT,” said Wells-Nagamine. âWe put everything in again for this year and marched forward. That’s all I can do. “
According to Wells-Nagamine, the company has hired “forensic expert assistance” to further investigate and fix the situation and propose security improvements.
Established in July 2003, Hawaii Payroll Services is a domestic limited company according to the State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. It offers pay slips, 401 (k) reports, and payroll tax slips.
According to HPS’s LinkedIn profile, it serves more than 120 local businesses, including Rainforest at Kilohana Square, Diamond Bakery, Yummy’s BBQ, and Jean’s Warehouse.
Wells-Nagamine filed a police report and a complaint with the Honolulu branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Notifications to government regulators and credit bureaus are ongoing.
The Honolulu Police Department’s Financial Crime Department has opened an investigation into first-degree computer unauthorized access. In the case, there were no arrests, according to HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request to update the Wells-Nagamine complaint.
The past year proved to be a boon for cybercriminals as more Americans worked remotely, attended distance learning, or used online resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of cybercrime nationally increased by about 40%, from 467,361 complaints that cost Americans about $ 3.5 billion in 2019 to 791,790 complaints and $ 4.2 billion in losses in 2020.
Last year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 2,474 reports of ransomware in a loss of over $ 29.1 million. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts data on a computer and makes it unusable, according to the FBI.
The dollar figure does not include estimates of lost business, time, wages, files, or equipment, or third party remediation services acquired from a victim, according to the FBI. In some cases, victims do not report losses to the federal government, resulting in an artificially low overall ransomware loss rate.
Whoever initiates the attack is holding the data hostage until a ransom payment or other arrangement is reached in exchange for access to the encrypted information. According to the Justice Department, cyber criminals have in some cases pressured victims by threatening to destroy or publish their data.
If you believe that your personal information has been compromised at Hawaii Payroll Services, please contact Michelle Wells-Nagamine at 596-7111 or [email protected].
You can also find more information on the Hawaii Payroll website: https://hawaiipayrollservices.wordpress.com.
If you or your company is a victim of a network intrusion, data breach, or ransomware attack, call the FBI Honolulu branch at 566-4300 or report it at tips.fbi.gov.
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