Meow Ransomware Hits Complete Payroll Solutions, Exposes 3GB Data
Incident Date:
August 26, 2024
Overview
Title
Meow Ransomware Hits Complete Payroll Solutions, Exposes 3GB Data
Victim
Complete Payroll Solutions
Attacker
Meow
Location
First Reported
August 26, 2024
Ransomware Attack on Complete Payroll Solutions by Meow Ransomware Group
Complete Payroll Solutions (CPS), a leading provider of payroll, HR, and employee benefits services, has been targeted by the notorious Meow Ransomware group. The attack, discovered on August 27, has compromised over 3 GB of sensitive data, including employee information, client details, scanned payment documents, personal data such as dates of birth and social security numbers, and tax documents.
About Complete Payroll Solutions
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, Complete Payroll Solutions serves over 10,000 clients across the United States. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services, including payroll processing, tax filing, talent management, benefits administration, and HR compliance. CPS is known for its personalized customer service and advanced technology integration, which streamlines payroll and HR tasks for small and mid-sized businesses.
What Makes CPS Stand Out
Complete Payroll Solutions distinguishes itself through its commitment to customer service and technology-driven solutions. The company assigns dedicated customer service representatives to each client, ensuring consistent and knowledgeable assistance. CPS also offers user-friendly employee self-service portals, allowing workers to access their pay stubs, tax forms, and other important information online, thereby reducing the administrative burden for employers.
Vulnerabilities and Attack Overview
The ransomware attack on CPS highlights the vulnerabilities that even well-established companies face. The Meow Ransomware group, known for targeting industries with sensitive data, likely exploited weaknesses in CPS's cybersecurity defenses. The attack has not only compromised confidential data but also poses a significant risk to CPS's operations and reputation. The financial demand associated with the attack is reported to be $16,000.
About Meow Ransomware Group
Meow Ransomware emerged in late 2022 and has been associated with the Conti v2 ransomware variant. The group employs various infection methods, including phishing emails, exploit kits, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities, and malvertising. Once a system is compromised, the ransomware encrypts files using a combination of the ChaCha20 and RSA-4096 algorithms. Meow Ransomware is known for targeting organizations in the United States with sensitive data and has a data leak site where they list victims who haven't paid the ransom.
Penetration Methods
The Meow Ransomware group likely penetrated CPS's systems through one of their common methods, such as phishing emails or exploiting RDP vulnerabilities. These tactics are effective in gaining unauthorized access to systems, allowing the ransomware to encrypt critical files and demand a ransom for their decryption. The attack on CPS underscores the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data and maintain operational integrity.
Recent Ransomware Attacks
The Recent Ransomware Attacks (RRA) site acts as a watchtower, providing you with near real-time ransomware tracking of attacks, groups and their victims. Given threat actors’ overarching, lucrative success so far, ransomware attacks have become the most ubiquitous, and financially and informationally impactful cyber threat to businesses and organizations today.
The site’s data is generated based on hosting choices of real-world threat actors, and a handful of other trackers. While sanitization efforts have been taken, we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy of the data. Attack updates will be made as source data is reported by reputable sources. By viewing, accessing, or using RRA you acknowledge you are doing so at your own risk.