Delayed pay: Umbrella company cyber attacks disrupt salary payments to thousands of contractors

• by Olivia Lawlor-Blackburn
• Industry News

Thousands of contractors across the UK are anxiously waiting to see if their payroll cycles will be disrupted for a second week, after two of the umbrella industry’s biggest players were targeted by cyber criminals

Thousands of contractors across the UK are facing a second possible week of payment delays, following separate cyber attacks on two of the umbrella industry’s largest players.

Brookson Group and Parasol have both been forced to proactively disable client-facing systems and minimise their online presence as a result of the attacks, while trying to maintain payroll runs for the tens of thousands of contractors who they employ.

Parasol was the first of the two company’s to be targeted, with anecdotal reports suggesting its systems were hit on Monday 10 January 2022. In its latest status update, dated 19 January, it said it was “still in the early stages” of investigating the incident, but confirmed it has “temporary measures” in place to ensure its contractors are paid.

Brookson, meanwhile, confirmed the attack on its systems occurred on the evening of Thursday 13 January, and in its most recent email to contractors assured them that its “remediation plan” is being “progressed as urgently as possible” and will include “activating elements of [its] technology stack in a specific sequence throughout the week”.

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