If you think a ransomware attack only impacts your IT systems, time to reevaluate.
What happens if your payroll provider gets hit? Your employees don’t get paid.
And when paychecks don’t show up on time, your company—not the payroll provider—could be the one facing lawsuits.
Wage Laws Don’t Care Who’s at Fault
In many states, employers are legally required to pay employees on time, no exceptions. The law doesn’t care if a cyberattack is to blame.
If your payroll provider is locked down by ransomware, you are still responsible for making sure your employees get paid.
And if you don’t? Employees could:
- File lawsuits for unpaid wages
- Report you to state agencies, triggering audits and fines
- Walk out, creating major disruptions in your business
The worst part? It might not even be your ransomware attack.
Payroll Providers Are Prime Targets
Payroll companies are a hacker’s dream target—they process millions in direct deposits, store Social Security numbers, tax records, and personal financial data. And they’re getting hit.
Take Complete Payroll Solutions (CPS)—a major payroll and HR provider that was attacked by the Meow Ransomware group. The breach exposed over 3GB of sensitive data, including:
- Employee information
- Client details
- Scanned payment documents
- Social Security numbers
- Tax records
If your payroll provider goes down, what’s your backup plan?
Could You Be Liable for Employee Losses?
The short answer? Maybe.
If you can’t prove that you evaluated your payroll provider’s security practices or took reasonable steps to protect your employees’ financial data, you could be accused of negligence.
And here’s the harsh truth: If you don’t have evidence, you don’t have a defense.
You can’t go back and create documentation after an incident happens. You need to be collecting proof now that you’re making smart, security-driven decisions.
How to Protect Your Business (and Your Employees)
Here’s what you need to do right now:
- Assess Your Payroll Provider’s Security – What are their cybersecurity practices? Do they have ransomware protections? Do they encrypt sensitive data?
- Collect Evidence of Your Decisions – Document vendor risk assessments, security reviews, and policies. If you need to defend your decisions later, you’ll need proof.
- Have a Backup Plan for Payroll – If your payroll provider goes down, how will you pay employees? Don’t wait for an attack to find out.
- Get a Cyber Liability Guard – This ensures that if something goes wrong, you have legal protection and a structured plan for responding to cyber threats.
No Evidence = No Defense
If your employees aren’t paid on time because of a cyberattack, they won’t care about who got hacked. They’ll care that they didn’t get paid.
Make sure you have a plan.
