Tag Archive for: workforce

Kronos Workforce Ransomware Attack Is a Teachable Moment

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Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG), a leading provider of workforce management software, whose HR management solutions are used by a who’s who of corporations and organizations, experienced a ransomware attack last December.

Kronos Private Cloud Hack Impacted Public Entities

In December 2021, Kronos revealed that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack, leading to its customers’ payroll systems being taken down and employee data compromised.

So, its customers turned on Kronos.

Some of its customers had to resort to contingency arrangements to pay their staff, such as going back to paper checks. Millions of employees were left in administrative limbo, unable to access payroll systems due to the outages.

The ransomware attack targeted Kronos Private Cloud solutions, a data storage site for several of the firm’s services, including UKG Workforce Central, which employees utilize to track hours and manage shifts.

“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,” a spokesperson said in a statement issued to NPR.

Kronos’ Business Continuity Plans Were Insufficient

Kronos might have been able to avoid this PR nightmare if it had heeded the warnings of its customers and taken steps to secure its systems.

The Kronos attack was a wake-up call for many organizations like Puma, Tesla, and the NFL, who had come to rely on Kronos for their payroll needs. It has led some to question whether Kronos is really the best solution for them.

After all, if Kronos can’t keep its systems secure, how can its customers be confident that their data will be safe?

And when people understand that entire council municipalities rely on Kronos to keep their data safe, the Kronos attack becomes even more worrying.

The Kronos Ransomware Attack Was a Real Eye-Opener

It showed that no organization is safe from cyberattacks, no matter how big or small.

It also showed that Kronos is not the invincible god…

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Hack the Plant Episode 20: Training the Cyber Workforce of the Future

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“You can only cover about 65% of the cybersecurity workforce demand with the existing workforce today. So we need to do something to address that gap. We need to either build that workforce or re-skill existing individuals that are looking to get into new fields. That’s the approach that we’re taking. So the need is there. We know that cyber risk is there. We know that adversaries are constantly re-skilling and skilling up as well. And we need to build a protective workforce around that.” – John Ellis

In this episode of Hack the Plant, we feature John Ellis, who heads up the Industrial Cyber Alliances at Siemens Energy.  We discuss a new, industry-lead apprenticeship program he runs which focuses on critical infrastructure protection called CIISAp (short for: Cybersecurity & Industrial Infrastructure Security Apprenticeship Program).

ICS village is one of the partners of this program, which is tackling the gap between shortage of skilled employees and the workforce

How is the cohort designed? How can we encourage collaboration tech companies, service companies, academia, and government to train the cyber workforce of the future?

Join us to learn more.

(Subscribe to Hack the Plant on Spotify or Apple, by RSS feed or search for it wherever you listen to podcasts.)

TRANSCRIPT

Joshua Corman: 

Our dependence on connected technology is growing faster than our ability to secure it, especially in areas affecting public safety and human life.

Bryson Bort: 

I’m Bryson Bort. And this is Hack the Plant. Electricity, finance, transportation, our water supply. We take these critical infrastructure systems for granted, but they’re all becoming increasingly dependent on the internet to function. Every day I ask and look for answers to the questions. Does our connectivity leave us more vulnerable to attacks by our enemies? I’m a senior fellow at the R street Institute and the co-founder of the nonprofit ICS Village, educating people on critical infrastructure security with hands-on examples, not just nerd stuff. I founded GRIMM in 2013, a consultancy that works the front lines of these problems every day for clients all over the world.

[SPEAKER]: 

It’s…

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Malware Is The Top Cyber Concern, But Firms Also Worry About The Mobile Workforce 04/01/2022

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Malware is the leading source of security attacks worldwide,
according to 56% of companies worldwide, according to the 2022 Thales Data Threat Report.

Of the executives polled, 79% worry about the security risks of an increasingly mobile workforce, and
43% have seen an increase in attacks in the past year.  …

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Women make up just 24% of the cyber workforce. CISA wants to fix that.

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As the race to recruit female talent in STEM continues moving ahead with steady progress, stunning statistics still wrack the cybersecurity sector: Women working in cybersecurity currently account for less than one quarter of the overall workforce.

Megan Rapinoe. Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Shirley Chisholm. Donning jeans and a Ukrainian flag t-shirt, the director of the nation’s lead cybersecurity agency ticked through PowerPoint slides of women “who took a sledgehammer to the glass ceiling.”

“I need your help,” said Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, on Friday to an audience of 1,700 female cybersecurity professionals assembled for a three-day technical conference in Cleveland. “We need to get to 50% of cybersecurity by the year 2030. Think we can do it?” Someone whistled. ACDC pulsed through the speakers. “Come on!” Easterly rallied. 

After exiting the stage, Easterly told CBS News she has become accustomed to setting “unreasonable” goals. “That’s been sort of my [modus operandi] my entire life,” she quipped. “And I honestly believe if you set a super ambitious goal, and you as a leader inspire and empower people, and look at that goal as something that may be challenging, highly ambitious, but is in fact achievable, you can get there.”

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Jen Easterly

CBS News


Pressed on how close America’s cyber defense agency is to “getting there,” Easterly responded down to the decimal. “Right now, we’re at 36.4% women at CISA’s workforce, but I think we can get to 50% before 2030.” She paused before adding,  “Actually, I’m hoping we can get there before 2025.”

Easterly says she hopes colleagues across the federal workforce – including FBI, NSA, U.S. Secret Service – make similar pledges. The Army veteran-turned-corporate leader came close to “getting there” in her previous stint as head of Firm Resilience at Morgan Stanley, where she oversaw a team that was roughly 48% women.

Currently, there’s just one woman serving as chief information security officer, or “CISO,” among the top 10 largest companies nationwide: Chandra McMahon,…

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