CRISIS SITUATION

Massachusetts Company to Employees: Your Direct Deposit Paychecks May Have Been Stolen by Hackers

The FBI is reportedly working with staffing company United Personnel after hackers targeted a software vendor handling direct deposit payments.

Hackers may have stolen the paychecks of employees at a Massachusetts staffing company by targeting the software vendor that handles direct deposits, resulting in what the company on Friday described as a “crisis situation.” “There are companies all over the country whose employees have been affected by this situation, and there is understandably a lot of anger,” United Personnel’s president and CEO Tricia Canavan said in a statement. It wasn't immediately clear how many employees were affected, but it is suspected the main target of the hack is AkkenCloud, a software vendor for more than 650 staffing agencies and 14.8 million candidates. The suspected hackers reportedly used “reversal transactions” to have direct deposit funds “withdrawn via an automated clearing house transaction.” Canavan said the company is working with the FBI, Attorney General and local police to fix the problem.